By Jemchandra Mayanglambam
IMPHAL, January 10: Six-time winner Tiddim Road Athletic Union, Kwakeithel will meet four times winner Shahastra Seema Bal, in the final of the 57th Sir Churachand Singh KCSI, CBE Memorial Football Tournament (CC Meet) tomorrow at the Khuman Lampak Main Stadium.
While, TRAU will be attempting to lift the trophy for the seventh time, SSB will be attempting for their fifth.
The Kwakeithel side have been champions in 1960, 1961, 1974, 1981, 2004 and 2009, while, SSB had lifted the trophy in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999.
Regardless of the winner tomorrow, the final will be a memorable one for the SSB fans.
The SSB team has returned to the tournament after a 12 year long hiatus.
The central para military team had last played in the 2000 final, which the team lost.
The Kwakeithel team started its 57th CC Meet journey with an easy drubbing of ESU in 5-0.
TRAU defeated YDO by 2-1 in its second round match and blanked BSF in the pre-quarter final by 2-0.
In the quarter final, TRAU defeated ARC, Shillong by 2-0.
In the semi-final, TRAU defeated defending champion NEROCA through the tie-breaker with a scoreline of 5-4.
Meanwhile, SSB started its campaign from the quarter-final defeating TRUGPU, Nambol by 2-0 while defeating NISA in the semi-final by 5-4 in the tie breaker.
Meanwhile, Th Premkumar of TRAU will also be fighting for a personal milestone of becoming the highest top scorer of the tournament.
Top scorer in the 2012 edition, Premkumar has scored five goals till the semi-final this year, one shy of NISA’s Sanatomba’s six.