The revived Kollam Municipal Golden Jubilee Memorial All-India Football Tournament organized by the Kollam City Corporation Council and the Kollam District Football Association kicked off as SAI Bangalore defeated MRC Wellington 2-1 in the 1st pre-quarter final on Tuesday.
In the first quarter final held today, SAI Bangalore thumped down Cochin Port Trust 3-1 to enter the semi finals of the competition. Indian Bank of Chennai and Karnataka Police will face each other in the second pre-quarter tomorrow to decide which team will play the defending champions SBT in the second quarter final.
The tournament which began in 1974 came to a standstill after 1978. After a long gap, it was revived in 2002 when Sabita Beegum was the Mayor of Kollam. State Bank of Travancore won the cup that year defeating Travancore Titanium Eleven in the final. The tournament to be conducted this year is its sixth edition an 12 teams will battle for the 51 sovereign-ever-rolling gold cup.
There are 5 Kerala based teams in the tournament - State Bank of Travancore (SBT), Travancore Titanium, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Golden Threads and Cochin Port Trust. Other teams that will take part are Sports Authority of India (SAI) Bangalore, MRC Wellington, Indian Bank of Chennai, Karnataka Police, Tamil Nadu Police, ASC Bangalore and MEG Bangalore.
Mayor Rajendrababu said an organising committee for the 2010 tournament with Chief Minister of Kerala, VS Achuthanandan as chief patron has been constituted. All ministers, MPs and MLAs from the district are members of this committee. An operational committee for the tournament, with the Mayor as chairman and Deputy Mayor Veliyam Rajan as general convener, has also been constituted.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 18 August 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.