KUWAIT CITY, April 12: The final phase of the GULF BANK sponsored 2nd Annual KEA Friendship Cup Football tournament organized by Keralite Engineers’Association was held recently at the Al Sahel Sports’Club, Abu Halifa.
The battle for the Cup was between TEC and MACE. Both teams gave a performance worthy of finalists. TEC who had been having a rather easy ride through the tournament found their match in MACE. However, TEC prevailed to win 2-1 and lift the trophy. Suresh of TEC hit the first goal of the match in the 11th minute. MACE soon got the equalizer through Sajeev Gopalan in the 20th minute. The two teams carried the tough fight into the second half. Ramesh of TEC who had been brilliant throughout came up with the winning shot in the 30th minute. Ramesh won the man of match award.

Earlier in the day, KEA and NSSCE fought it out for the third place. Both teams put on a very good show. KEA went 1-0 up in the 10th minute through a brilliant goal by Immanuel. Danny then shot another beautiful one in the 22nd minute and KEA went 2-0 up. NSSCE fought hard and scored through a brilliant take and hit by Naseem in the 28th minute. NSSCE, however, could not advance further and KEA won the game 2-1 to be ranked third in the tournament. Naseem of NSSCE was adjudged the man of the match. The award ceremony was held soon after, amidst a lot of cheering and applause.
Santhosh Abraham, President of KEA presented the trophy and medals to the winning team. KS Varghese of GATCO presented the trophy to the runners-up. Finney George of METEX gave away the medals. Paul T. Kurien, General Secretary of KEA presented the trophy for the second runners-up. Suresh Pillai of Mark Technologies gave away the medals.

The Tournament Fair-play award went to Team NIT. Chairman of TEC, Ratnakumar VK gave away the prize.
Aju Issac of MACE was named the best goal keeper of the tournament. PC George, Chairman of MACE gave away the award.
Suresh of TEC got the award for Top Goal Scorer of the tournament. KEA’s Aju Paul gave away the prize on behalf of Gulf Bank. Suresh scored 5 goals overall, beating his teammate Ramesh by one goal.
Ramesh KP Of TEC won the best player of the tournament award for his consistent brilliance. Young Karun Denny of MACE won the promising young player award. Ben Paul, Vice President of KEA gave away both the awards.
Sankaran Nair, General Convener - KEF gave away the man of the match award for the finals. Jacob George of MACE, GC Elect - KEF gave away the man of the match award for the third place play-off.
The officials from IFRA, namely; CO John, Anand Sharma, Abdul Mubarak Yousef and Jenniffer, were also felicitated for the great work throughout the tournament. Ayub Kachery, Director of Grand Hyper market did the honors.