4th IBFF National Blind Football Tournament at Bengaluru 12-15 Apr'19

    Bethany Society Shillong emerge National Champions of the​ ​ the Fourth Edition of the IBFF National Blind Football Tournament from ​ 12-15 Apr'19 ​ at the Bullring Fever Pitch Yeshwantpur Bengaluru. The North East Zone champions played some mesmerizing football to beat their state rivals the Garo Blind Football Club 5-0 with India International, Gabriel Nongrum scoring all 5 goals in an exciting final. Gabriel was in outstanding form tormenting the defense with his dribbling skills and ball control, as the opponent even with the ‘Player of the Tournament’ Klingson Marak, another India International in their ranks, couldn’t overcome the challenge. The semi finals saw debutants Manipur feature for the first time who lost via a solitary goal to the Garo team while the other semi saw the previous winners NIVH Dehradun who unfortunately lost to the eventual champions in a penalty shootout. The Golden boot award went to Pankaj Rana from Dehradun for a total of 11 goals and the upcoming young player went to Kido from Siliguri while Sujith PS Indian custodian from Kochi won the best goalkeeper award. Ms Niddhi Subbiah, Kannada actress was the chief guest for the Finals along with Mr David Absalom, Secretary from IBSA New Delhi and Ms Suma from Otis India and Ms Jani Viswanath, Founder Healing Lives Foundation all of whom were impressed with the skill level of the talents on display and also encouraged the players to play better in the future.

Another highlight of the event was the first time ever Women's Blind Football Demo game on the Final day played with Blr based players which will allow the teams to develop for the future too. This demo game had female referees, goalkeepers, coaches and guides which made it an unique event. The tournament featured 16 teams with more 160 with International IBSA approved referees and officials conducting the games, and training was offered to new players too. The main aim objective of the event as Mr Sunil J Mathew, Sporting Director IBFF said was to help identify new talents as efforts are on to build a stronger National side for the Paralympics 2020 Qualifiers this year ​ . ​ Teams from Delhi, Uttarakhand, UP, West Bengal, Odisha, Meghalaya, Manipur, Gujarat, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Telangana, Tamil Nadu etc participated at the event.