Kadam Memorial all set to kick-off

PUNE: Mumbai's Kenkre FC will be among 24 teams featuring from 11 districts in Maharashtra state featuring in the upcoming Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Shield to be held at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Educational complex ground at Dhankawadi this weekend. The tournament will serve as a qualifier with the winner and runner-up proceeding to the final phase scheduled to be held in August 2010 boasting of a lineup including six i-League teams and two international teams from England.

Pune will have the maximum representation in the qualifiers with thirteen local teams vying for the honours namely Deccan XI, Chetak Sports Club, City Club, Thundercats, Parshuramians, Fatima XI, Mischief Makers, Sangam , BEG, Pune Police, Ghorpuri Young ones, CMS Falcons and Central Railway (Pune).

Outstation teams apart from Kenkre FC (Mumbai) include Patkadil Talim Mandal (Kolhapur), Zingaro Shivajians (Ahmednagar), Western India United Football Club (Thane), Late Ramachndra Gaikawad Pratishtan (Satara), New Star FC (Sangli), Jain Academy (Jalgaon), Akola United (Akola), Unique Football Club (Beed), Deccan Sports Academy (Latur) and Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal (Amravati).

The winners will receive a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000 while the runners-up take home Rs.51,000. Mumbai best performance in the tournament arrived in the 2007 edition when debutants Mumbai FC lifted the shield.