By ANUSHIL KUMAR
Cuvu created history in the 55th Sanatan Covention as they lifted the Sanatan Inter District Championship title for the first time ever thrashing Ba 4-1 in the grand finale at Prince Charles Park in Nadi yesterday, April 21.
Laced with some of the district reps like Ravinesh Karan Singh (Suva), Joseph Mishra (Labasa), Arvind Pratap (Nadi), Elvin Prasad (Nadroga), Nathan Kumar (Nasinu) and few others, the Sigatoka based side came into the final as favourites.
Dominating the first half, Ravinesh Karan Singh scored two goals while Nathan Kumar scored the third as Cuvu led 3-0 at the breather with Kaushik Kumar being sent off for a dangerous foul five minutes prior to the break.
Ba fought hard in the second half as strike-force Rineshwar Lal’s powerful shot at goal was deflected off by defender Arvind Pratap into the back of the net, but it was too late as captain Elvin Prasad ended Ba’s hopes of winning by putting the final nail into their coffin giving a final outcome of 4-1.
Cuvu coach/player Nitulesh Mali commended the boys for a gallant performance.
“We are very happy to win this tournament for the first time ever in 55 years,” Mali said.
“Our focus now moves on to the Sanatan World Cup which will be played in September in Sydney,” he added.
Ba captain Shalen Lal praised Cuvu for their win giving them a hard challenge this year.
“There’s only one winner at the end of the match and I must thank Cuvu for giving us a tough challenge,” said Lal, a former Ba Football striker.
Cuvu walked away with $1500 and the Cup while Ba received $750 with runners-up trophy. Losing semi-finalist Nadroga and Labasa received $200 each.
Meanwhile, Suva TIV ended a 38-year drought by winning the Sangam IDC beating Rifle Range (Lautoka club) 1-0 at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.
Nasinu successfully defended their Muslim IDC title beating Nadi 3-2 in penality kicks at Govind Park in Ba.
Rewa won the Gujerati tournament beating defending champions Nadi 7-6 in penality kicks while Tavua walked away with the Sikh IDC title after topping the round robin competition.