The 76th State Police Football Tournament kicked off at the OSAP mini stadium here on Thursday. IG of Police (Northern Range), Susant Kumar Nath declared the event open in which a total of 43 teams from different police district besides OSAP Bn, IR Bn Units and Commissionerate Police teams are scheduled to participate.
The inaugural match was played between Jharsuguda OSAP 2nd Bn and Keonjhar District Police, which was unilaterally won by Jharsuguda team at 6-0. For the winning team, Bijay Jalan scored 2, Daljit Gurung 3 and Aita Gurung one goal giving Jharsuguda team the advantage. In the second match, Rourkela team defeated Boudh team by a solitary goal. M. Khan scored the lone goal of the match for the winning team.
In the third game, Cuttack 6th Bn defeated Mayurbhanj District Police team by 8-0 goals. The fourth match was played between Rourkela Police District and 8th Sepcial IR Bn, Kandhamal which ended goalless and both teams had to be satisfied with one point each. The last match of the inaugural day was played between 7th IR Bn, Koraput and 5th IR Bn, Boudh which concluded with Koraput team winning by 3-2.
The final will be played on August 5 and ADG Satyajit Mohanty will graced the finals. Among others the inigural day was graced by Jharsuguda Superintendent of Police, R Prakash and OSAP 2nd Batalion Commandant Mohammad Jahid.