Durand Cup trophies unveiled in Kokrajhar; Trophy tour from Bodofa Cultural Complex to SAI Stadium held

KOKRAJHAR: The Trophy unveiling ceremony for the Kokrajhar Chapter of 132nd Edition of Durand Cup was held Bodofa Cultural Complex, Kokrajhar with Kalyan Chaubey, president, All India Football Federation (AIFF) as the Chief Guest and Major General Dinesh Hooda, Chief of Staff, Gajraj Corps as the chief host.

The three trophies of the historical Durand Cup were jointly unveiled by Kalyan Chaubey, Maj General Dinesh Hooda, Promod Boro, Chief Executive Member, BTC, Major General M Mahendroo, Vice Chaiman Durand Or-ganising Committee, Smt Nandita Gorlosa, Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare, Assam, UG Brahma, Minister of Welfare of Bodoland department, Assam and Maj General S. Murugesan, General Officer Commanding Red Horns Division. Ms. Apurna Narzary, U-20 1ndian Women Football team captain, members of the press and strong local sports enthusiasts were also present during the unveiling ceremony.

The Trophy unveiling was followed by Bodo cultural fiesta which included Bardwi Sikhla folk dance, Bihu dance, performance by famous musician and world record holder, Dr. Gwmwtao Basumatary. The 132nd Edition of the reputed Durand Cup football tournament, organized by the Indian Army on behalf of the three Services is the only tournament in the country which pits Service Teams along with the top teams from different football divi-sions of India.

Tournament is set to kick-off on August 3 at Kolkata with Kokrajhar hosting nine matches including one Quar-ter Final match. Match between Bodoland FC and Rajasthan United FC will be the opening game on August 5. All matches will be played at the SAl Stadium, Kokrajhar. The Quarter final in Kokrajhar is scheduled on 24 August and the final match is scheduled on 3 September in Kolkata. Kokrajhar is playing host to the Durand Cup for the first time.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Kalyan Chaubey complimented the BTC for making exceptional pro-gress in promotion of sports in recent times with the young athletes representing Indian teams across disciplines. In this context the staging of such premiere national tournaments, gives a further boost to the region’s young and tal-ented footballers, as they get an opportunity to see their favourite teams and stars play in front of them. He ex-tended best wishes to all the participating teams and thanked the Indian Arny for organizing this iconic tournament in Kokrajhar with absolute efficiency and professionalism.

Maj Gen Dinesh Hooda, Chief of Staff, Gajraj Corps also addressed the gathering and spoke about the rich tra-ditions of the Durand Cup, the three trophies and long association with the Indian Armed Forces. He expressed his gratitude to the Government of Assam and Bodoland Territorial Council for providing Armed forces with whole-hearted support for the tournament. The trophy unveiling ceremony was also addressed by Ministers-Nandita Far-losa, UG Brahma and CEM of BTC Pramod Boro.

The three Trophies unique to the tournament are, the Durand Cup (a rolling trophy and the original prize), the Shimla Trophy (also a rolling trophy, first given by the resident of Shimla in 1904) and the President’s Cup (for permanent keep and first presented by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, in 1956). The trophies were jointly flagged-off on a 15 cities Tour on Friday, 30 June, in Delhi, by Chief of Army Staff -General Manoj Pande, Chief of Air Staff- Air Chief Marshal VK Chaudhary, and Shri Kalyan Chaubey, President, AIFF. Kokrajhar was the fourteenth stop in the tour. Before embarking upon Kokrajhar, the trophies have already visited the cities of Dehradun, Udhampur, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, Karwar, Ezhimala, Kochi, Guwahati and Shillong. Trophies will also visit Kathmandu and Dhaka, before flagging-in at Kolkata, the venue of the finals.

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