Quarter-fils to kick off from July 7

By our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 3: It is unique in every sense. First time it happened in the State football that the schedule of the quarter fil of a tourment was fixed through an open draw, that too, in the presence of a noted film persolity. However, the Assam Football Association failed to bring a single former great footballer of the State to this show.

The schedule of the Assam State Premier League was fixed today in an open draw which was held in a city hotel. The new trophy of the tourment was also unveiled in the same programme. Noted film persolity Jatin Bora was the chief guest in the function and he also took part in the draw as well as the unveiling of trophies. What is unfortute is the absence of a single top footballer of the yesteryears in this function.

As per the draw local outfit and group topper of Lower Assam Zone FC Green Valley got easy opponent as they will play against lowly placed Rhino FC of Golaghat in the quarter fil. The other city based team Guwahati FC will face Baarhoongkha FC in the last eight stage. Karbi Anglong Morning Star, who finished top in the Upper Assam Zone, will meet Tezpur United, the sixth ranked team in the group stage. The other quarter fil will be held between Triyanjyoti Sangha  vs Moran Town club. All the quarter fils will be double leg affair and will kick off from July 7.

Elaborating the process of the draw Bhaswar Goswami, the CEO of ASPL, said that all eight teams who are qualified for the quarter fils are ranked as per their performance in the group stage. Karbi Anglong FC, FC Green Valley, Triyanjyoti Sangha and Baarhoongkha AC finished as top four teams and their opponent were decided by the draw today. All top four teams will get the chance to start their quarter fil leg campaign with home matches. Goswami also added that the venue of the fil will be declared later. "We want to organize the fil in a venue which will be the home city of one of the two filists,'said Goswami.

Meanwhile the glittering trophies of the Assam State Premier League were unveiled today in the same function. Unveiling the trophy Jatin Bora, noted actor who is also a good follower of the game, said, " I am really happy to be the part of this function. Best wishes to all the quarter filists" Apart from Bora the function was also attended by Ankur Dutta, the secretary of the Assam football Association and Alimuddin Ahamed, the chairman of the tourment committee who also holds the post of vice president in the AFA. Meanwhile Dutta today announced the cash awards of the meet which will be record prize money of Rs 25 lakh. The champion team will receive Rs 5 lakh while the runners up will be richer by Rs 2.5 lakh. There will be other prizes also.