State Bank of Travancore (SBT) were crowned winners of the ONGC’s All India Football Championship at Padal Ground, Mandi on Wednesday.
The team from Kerala lifted the title with a defeat of Ghana XI Rajkot from Gujarat with a scoreline of 2-0, amid a rain drenched ending to the all-India tournament at Himachal Pradesh.
Forwards Usman P and Shibin Lal VK fired home for SBT in the 28th and 33rd minute of the first half respectively. Ghana XI pulled off a valiant effort in the second half of the match, but failed to get back into the game against the SBT team who were excellent through out the championship.
Himachal Pradesh Football Association (HPFA) president Amit Pal Singh handed over the trophy to the boys coached by seasoned trainer VP Shaji.Image not recovered: 1077282_552609798109010_998579130_o
There was also achievement in personal terms for SBT players as Usman was named the best player in the tournament along with this teammate Jean Christian PA who was conferred the title of best goalkeeper of the tournament.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 19 July 2013. The database copy of this article was lost; it was recovered in 2026 from the Internet Archive's saved copy of the live page.