The Under 17 Football Team from Udaipur has won the Rajasthan Junior Football Championship 2023. The Udaipur team beat hosts Bara 1-0 after a well fought final.

Dilip Singh Shekhawat, the Secretary of the Rajasthan Football Association said that the final was a game worthy of the finals. Both the team performed exceptionally well in the defence and attack sides. Till half time, none of the teams were able to score. However, in 76th minute, a pass by the Centre Half Vinay was converted into a winning goal by Jersey # 10 Nikhil, who dribbled past two defenders to enter the D and booted the  ball into nets to take Udaipur one up. This lead was maintained till the final whistle.

The Journey into the finals

Udaipur drubbed Jaisalmer 8-0 in their first match. In the quarterfinal, Udaipur beat Sikar 4-2 and entered the finals be beating Jodhpur 2-0 in the Semi Finals. Hence in the entire tournament, only two goals went past the Udaipur goal keeper, while the attackers managed to convert 15 goals in all, which speaks well of the entire assembly of players of the Udaipur team.

Team

The Udaipur team was led by Sanjay and team players included Vinay, Kazi Maroof, Nikhil Kashyap, Asad Ali, Parikshit Meena, Saahil Meena, Anil Meena, Faheem Rangwala, Himesh Kindo, Nikhil Gop, Yash and Lipu Murmu. The  team coach is Firoz Khan, who is a National level coach and has played at the national level as well.

Shakeel Ahmed, Secretary of the DFA Udaipur said that Faheem and Asad are classmates (Class X) from St Pauls School Udaipur, while Nikhil Gop, Kazi, Vinay, Himesh are students of DAV Zawar Mines. The other players of the champion team, viz. Sanjay, Parikshit, Nikhil Kashyap, Saahil, Anil and Lipu are students of various government schools around Udaipur district. 

Shakeel Ahmed, in his interaction with UdaipurTimes also said that this is the second time in the last 15 days that a team from Udaipur has won such a coveted prize. The Udaipur Under 14 team also brought home the first prize in the Rajasthan Under 14 Football Championship on May 30. The tournament was held in Hanumangarh, where the Udaipur team beat Bikaner 2-0. This is a record for Udaipur, bringing home both the Under 14 and Under 17 cups.