Former state captain, member of Federation Cup winning ITI team Kantharaj no more

A Kantharaj, 75, former captain of Karnataka state football team and ITI passed away last Friday, February 25 morning 7 am at his residence in Hoskote. 

Kantharaj was employed with and a part of the all-conquering Bangalore’s Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) team that won many tournaments but most importantly the first edition of Federation Cup in 1977.

Known for his robustness and leadership skills, Kantharaj was regular in the Santosh Trophy team thru the 70s. His most important feat was in 1976 State Nationals where he lost of Bengal in the final.

Later, Kantharaj focussed on developing football near his area of residence, he formed Town SC Hoskote. This football club was regular in BDFA C Division League. He was an integral part of Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) and served as a general body member in KSFA.

Kantharaj is survived by his wife and three sons. The burial service took place on Saturday morning. The football association condoled the death of the former star and prayed for his bereaved family. Also, a minute’s silence was observed during the games in Friday’s A Division Women’s League. 

 

Bengaluru FC Girls claim 3-0 win over Pass FC in KSFA Women’s A Div League

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC girls picked up their second win of the KSFA Women’s ‘A’ Division League campaign with a 3-0 win over PASS FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium. Goals from Chinmayi Tili (6’). Nandini (15’) and Ruthu (65’) were enough to see BFC cruise to victory.

The Blues started the game brightly under the lights and scored with their first shot on target, inside five minutes. Shloka Krishna dragged the defenders wide and then played the ball through to Chinmayi, who slotted past Bhoomika in the PASS goal to make it 1-0. 

The young winger continued to be a threat down the left flank and won a penalty for the Blues after her cross clipped the arm of a Pass FC defender only ten minutes later. Nandini stepped up and scored her fourth goal of the tournament and made it 2-0 in the first 15 minutes.

Bengaluru FC continued to use the flanks to their advantage and kept creating chances through the wings with Chinmayi and Annika Srivastava. 

Into the second period, Bengaluru pushed forward in a bid to add to their tally but attempts from Nandini and Tanvi failed to find the target. Shloka had a chance to add her name to the scoresheet, but the striker was unable to apply the finish to a cross from Nandini. 

Levanah Samuel’s side found their third goal just past the hour mark when a defensive lapse allowed Sanjana Makam to drive a cross into a dangerous area. Bhoomika’s spill fell to Ruthu Sreenandan, who finished from close range to make it 3-0. 

PASS FC made inroads late in the game, but the Bengaluru defence did well to cut away the danger while Karnika Karthick stood stubborn in goal to make a series of fine saves. 

 

Women's A Division League 2021-22 - Schedule & Point Table

1. Feb 14, 2022: Sai Sports Academy 4 (Shayna Anahi Nilkon-21’, 26’, 36’ Sai DivyaShree-70’) Vs GRK Girls FC 2 (Rujula GS-5’, 49’)
2. Feb 15, 2022: Modern Girls FC 2 (M PriyaDharshini-12', Simran Bhargava-14') Vs Bengaluru FC 0 
3. Feb 16, 2022: Pass FC 1 (Rafiya Fathima-16’) Vs Roots Football School 1 (Shravya Manoj-18’)
4. Feb 17, 2022: Bengaluru FC 10 (Shloka Krishna-20', Nandini -23', 31', 36', Tanvi Nair-29', Hasvika Sridharan-50', 66', Anwita Raghuraman-67', Saisha Chawla -59', 90') Vs GRK Girls FC 0
5. Feb 18, 2022: Pink Panthers 5 (Reshma ER- 6', Diona D'souza-14', 24', 66', Aleena Tony-70'+2') Vs Pass FC 0
6. Feb 19, 2022: Roots Football School 5 (Bhavya V Sanjana-2', 45', Sharavya Manoj-10', R Deviyani-48', Zayana-66') Vs Sai Sports Academy 1 (Shayana-31’)
7. Feb 20, 2022: Modern Girls FC 5 (Priyadarshni-3’, Aarushi-22’, 43’, 63’, Medha Gupta-40’) Vs United FC Kodagu 2 (Prerna-10’, Jayashree-27’)
8. Feb 22, 2022: Pink Panthers FC 2 (Aleena -21’, 30’) Vs Bengaluru FC 0
9. Feb 22, 2022: Modern Girls FC 12 (Medha Gupta-2’, 34’, 38’, Maithryei Palasundram-3’, 31’, Aarushi Santhosh-5’, 13’, 62’, Aadira Ghosh-16’, 44’, 53, Mrunmayi Kamerkar-36’) GRK Girls FC 0
10. Feb 22, 2022: Pass FC 4 (Rafiya Fathima-14’, 28’, 42’, Vaishnavi Shetty-51’) Vs Sai Sports Academy 1 (Shayna Anahi-2’)
11. Feb 23, 2022: Roots Football School 3 (Shravya-1', 17', Mythali-29'[P]) Vs United FC Kodagu 1 (Jayashree-7') 
12. Feb 25, 2022: Sai Sports Academy 0 Vs Modern Girls FC 4 (Jiya Vora-15', M Priyadarshni-47', Maitreyi Palasamudram-64', Swetha R-70'+1'[OG]) 
13. Feb 25, 2022: Bengaluru FC 3 (Chinmayi-4', Nandini-13', Ruthu Sreenandan-63') Vs Pass FC 0 
14. Feb 26, 2022: Roots Football School 1 (Mythili-46') Vs Pink Panthers FC 1 (Aleena Tony-48') 
15. Mar 2, 2022: Pink Panthers FC 7 (Diona D'Souza-23', 26', 35'+1', 36', 40', Tanusree Ramesh-51', Keerthi-11'[OG]) Vs Sai Sports Academy 0
16. Mar 2, 2022: Modern Girls FC 4 (Maitreyi-3', 45', Treia-35'+1', Aadira-47') Vs Pass FC 0
17. Mar 3, 2022: Roots Football School 6 (Sanjita Parvati Vaidya-2', 10', 16', 35', 39', Trisha P-43') Vs GRK Girls 0
18. Mar 6, 2022: Pink Panthers FC 11 (Aleena Tony-8', 37', 42', 53', 54', 60', Reshma ER-14', 35'+2', Jyoti Mohan Khanapurkar-44', 51', Amsitha N Rai-65') Vs GRK Girls 0 
19. Mar 6, 2022: Bengaluru FC 0 Vs Sai Sports Academy 0 
20. Mar 6, 2022: Modern Girls FC 3 (Treia Menon-11', M Priyadharshini-34', Aarushi Santhosh-35'+1') Vs Roots Football School 1 (Sanjita-4')
21. Mar 9, 2022: GRK Girls Vs Pass FC
22. Mar 9, 2022: Roots Football School Vs Bengaluru FC 
23. Mar 9, 2022: Pink Panthers FC Vs Modern Girls FC  

Pink Panthers beat Bengaluru FC Girls 2-0 in Women’s A Division League

Bengaluru FC Media 

Pink Panthers FC beat Bengaluru FC 2-0 in the KSFA Women’s A Division League at the Bangalore Football Stadium today. First half strikes from Aleena (21’,31’) were enough to see Pink Panthers claim three points, handing the Blues their second defeat of the campaign. 

The game started with the Blues pushing for an early lead with the first shot of the game coming inside the first five minutes. Nandini carried the ball into the opponent's box and set up Sanjana Kashinath whose attempt on goal was just wide of the post. Goalkeeper Karnika Karthick was called into action for the first time in the 17th minute when a low drive from Aleena Tony required attention. 

The first goal of the game came in the 21st minute after Aleena cut through the BFC backline with a burst of pace and slotted it past the reach of Karnika. The Panthers’ number 26 scored her second shortly after, picking the ball on the counter and charging her way into the Bengaluru box before a composed finish.

Bengaluru made changes ahead of the break as Ruthu and Shloka replaced Annika and Sila. Into the second period, Bengaluru pushed forward in a bid to reduce the deficit with long distance efforts from Tanvi Nair and Nandini blocked away. Minutes shy of the hour mark, Shloka had a chance to score but for stubborn defending from the Panthers’ backline.

Bengaluru made further changes as Bonifilia Shullai and Misha Agarwal were sent on to replace Chinmayi Tili and Shrujansri Saravanan, but couldn’t break the deadlock as the game ended 2-0 in favour of the Panthers.

The BFC Girls are back in action on Friday, when they take on PASS FC at the same venue. 

Roots Football trounce Sai Sports in KSFA Women’s A Division League

Roots Football School 5 (Bhavya V Sanjana-2', 45', Sharavya Manoj-10', R Deviyani-48', Zayana-66') Vs Sai Sports Academy 1 (Shayana-31)

Roots Football School girls drubbed Sai Sports Academy 5-1 in their second game in KSFA Women’s A Division League. Coming from a draw in their first game, Roots took an early lead, they were 2-0 up within 10 minutes of the game but kept attacking opponent’s defence with no success. 

Sai Sports Academy won their first match against GRK Girls FC. In today's game, their only goal arrived after the first-half water break against the run of play when Shayana zipped past Roots’ defence. 

Roots Football School came back as a much-organized team in the later half. Sanjana scored her second goal, followed one each by Deviyani and Zayana. 

Sharavya with her tireless effort grabbed the Player of the Match. 

 

Bengaluru FC girls score a perfect 10 in KSFA Women’s ‘A’ Division

Bengaluru FC Media 

 

Bengaluru FC’s U15 Girls side marked their first ever win in style with a 10-0 defeat of GRK Girls FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Thursday. Striker Nandini, who also captained the side on the day, grabbed a hat-trick, as five other players found their name on the scoresheet.

The Blues controlled possession early on and almost found the opener when Nandini found herself in the 18-yard-box, but her effort rattled the crossbar and bounced back into play. Only moments later, Shloka Krishna found the opener for the Blues after a scramble in the box saw the ball fall perfectly for the forward who tapped home from close range. 

Things went from bad to worse for the GRK Girls as Nandini doubled the lead two minutes after the opener. Gliding past the opponents and carrying the ball through on goal, Nandini drove a shot past Aishwarya Gowda in goal to make it 2-0. 

The BFC Girls made it 3-0 shortly after when Tanvi Nair took advantage of an indirect free-kick in the box and smashed past the ‘keeper. The goals kept coming as Nandini picked up her second goal of the game right before the break, shooting from distance once again to make it 4-0.  

Into the second half, the Blues refused to relent as Nandini squeezed a shot past the GRK goalkeeper to score her third of the evening. Bengaluru FC were sitting in a comfortable position before bringing on Hasvika Sridharan, Anwita Raghuraman, Saisha Chawla and Aabha Kudale with forty minutes on the clock. 

Moments after coming on, Hasvika found herself in the right place at the right time after a shot from Aabha rebounded off the ‘keeper and fell kindly for the defender, who passed it into the back of the net to make it 6-0. 

Hungry for more, the BFC girls kept the ball in the opponent's half and dominated possession. Rheanna Liz Jacob’s cross from the right flank fell kindly for Saisha, who took a touch and scored to make it 7-0. 

Bengaluru would score three more times in the last ten minutes, as goals from Hasvika, Anvika and Saisha meant a 10-0 win for the girls, in what was their first ever win.

The BFC U15 Girls have four more games to play in the KSFA Women’s ‘A’ Division League.

Modern Girls beat debutant Bengaluru FC 2-0

Bengaluru FC Media

Bengaluru FC went down 2-0 to Modern Girls FC in their first ever clash, in the KSFA Women’s ‘A’ Division League, at the Bangalore Football Stadium, on Tuesday. First-half goals from M Priyadarshini and Aishwarya Rathore settled the tie in favor of Modern Girls, who held fort at the back to thwart Bengaluru’s attempts to find a way back.

The Blues held possession for the first ten minutes and even found themselves through on goal when Annika Srivastava had only the goalkeeper to beat but chose to make a pass which was too short for Shloka Krishna. Modern Girls turned it up a notch and punished the BFC backline after Priyadarshini found herself through on goal and slotted past Karnika Karthick to take the lead in the 11th minute.    

Bengaluru FC conceded a corner only moments later and found themselves two goals down when Simran Bhargava converted past Karnika from close range to make it 2-0 with twenty minutes left to play in the first period. 

BFC U15 Girls Head Coach Levanah Samuel made changes at the break as Nandini and Ruthu Sreenandhan came off the bench. Nandini added impetus to the Blues' attack, carrying the ball down the wing. Ten minutes into the second half, her effort from distance tested Modern 'keeper Aruni Singh, but wasn't enough to reduce the deficit.

The chances started coming for the Blues as Nandini found herself in the thick of things again and attempted a shot from distance on the hour mark, but her effort was just wide. The Blues pushed forward in search of a goal but fell short in the attacking third as the referee blew his whistle to bring an end to proceedings.

The BFC U15 Girls are next in action when they take on G.R.K Girls FC at the same venue, on Thursday.

Women's A Division Football League 2021-22 to kick off today

The KSFA Women’s A Division football league started today at the Bangalore Football Stadium. Modern Girls FC, winners of the Sports Planet Trophy earlier in the season along with debutants Bengaluru FC are part of the 8 team league.

Participating teams 

1. Modern Girls FC

2. Roots Football School

3. Pass FC

4. Pink Panthers

5. Sai Sports Academy

6. United FC Kodagu

7. GRK Girls FC

8. Bengaluru FC

Sai Sports Academy and GRK Girls FC played the first match of the league. In a high scoring game, Sai Sports got the better of GRK. The match ended in 4-2 in favour of the Sai Sports girls with Shayna scoring a hattrick. 

Sai Sports Academy 4 (Shayna Anahi Nilkon-21’, 26’, 36’

Sai DivyaShree-70’) Vs GRK Girls FC 2 (Rujula GS-5’, 49’) 

In tomorrow’s game, strong Modern Girls FC will meet debutant Bengaluru FC, 3.30 pm at the Bangalore Football Stadium.

File Pic

 

Former international footballer Ramanna no more

Football great Papanna, of the famous Papanna, Rajanna, and Rammana brothers trio from Mysore passed away today morning 10 at his residence in Mysore. He was 78 years old and is survived by his wife. 

The three brothers formed a formidable force in the country’s football circle. His elder brother Ramanna died in Kolkata almost six years ago, in 2016.

After shinning for Dalvoy Middle School, earned a call to represent the then Mysore State in Junior Nationals, then he graduated to the senior team that played in Santosh trophy, and moved to the Mecca of Football, Kolkata, and played with much success for Mohammedan Sporting. 

Kolkata Maidan Folklore has it that while watching them turning out for their favorite team, the Mohammedan Sporting supporters would chant:
Shawan ka mahina, Mohammedan kare shor, Ramanna kare center, Papanna kare goal. 

Papanna represented India in Merdeka Cup at Kualaumpur, Malaysia and scored a goal against Japan.

Known for his proficiency in scoring goals from headers, Papanna scored a record 20-goals for his club Mohammedan and helped to lift the Calcutta Football League title in 1966. He was a part of the IFA Shield winning team for the same club and played all major national tournaments like Durand, Rovers Cup, DCM Trophy, so on. 

When Papanna moved back to his home state, he turned up for ITI Bengaluru, Ideal Jawa Factory and KR Mills in Mysore.

KSFA and BDFA condoled the demise of the great son of the state.