by Allen Vincent
LONAVLA, JULY 29, 2017: In a bid to bring past pupils of Don Bosco School, Lonavla, together, the Past Pupils Association organised a 5-a-side indoor knock-out football 
tournament, for all the neighbouring schools, from July 21 to 23.
tournament, for all the neighbouring schools, from July 21 to 23.
Winners took home prize money of Rs 11,000, while runner's-up Rs 7000 in each category. Don Bosco Team A trumped Ryewood International School, 4-3, to claim top honours in the U-14 category. Milan Chettri, a standard eight student from Don Bosco High School and Junior College scored eight goals, the most number in the category. Kaivalya Vidya Niketan and another Don Bosco team also participated in the category.
In the U-17 category, 16 teams participated, with Don Bosco A winning the final against another Don Bosco team, 3-0. Harshal Parab, a student of standard 12 Commerce was the top scorer in the category with 12 goals.
The U-14 category had four teams from the schools in Lonavla, two teams from Don Bosco, one team each from Ryewood International School and Kaivalya Vidya Niketan. The final was between Don Bosco Team A and Ryewood International School in which Don Bosco-A prevailed with the score of 4-3. Milan Chettri, a class eight student of Don Bosco High School and Junior College scored most number of goals in this category with eight goals.
Matches in the open category were conducted on July 23, with over 31 teams participating in the tournament. Teams from Pune and Mumbai were also part of this extravaganza.
Two teams from Kalina, namely Kalina Rangers A and B, made it to the finals. Since they both made the cut, they decided against competing and instead took home the cash prize that amounted to Rs 18,000 and the trophy. Tanmay Kantak, from the Lonavla Footbal Club, with 11 goals, was named the Player of the tournament in the Open category.
"Indoor football is one of the favourite and popular games in Don Bosco Lonavla and everyone who passed out from this institution have once in their life played this game. Hence this game was the means to get the older pupils back to school and reminisce about their school days," an organiser said.
Chettri, a top scorer in the under-14 category, added, "It's a matter of pride to represent the school and win the title for the school. It feels good to be the top scorer. Football is my favourite game and supersedes everything for me."