The members of the Young Men's Christian Association in Panjim are gearing up to host their first All-India Inter YMCA Futsal Championship from August 27 to 29, 2023, on the Don Bosco futsal turf.
The 5-a-side tournament, which is being jointly organised by YMCA Panjim and YMCA Bombay, will have 15 futsal teams consisting of YMCA members from across the country fighting for the winner's crown.
At a press conference called on Monday, August 21, 2023, Elvis Gomes, a board member and the organising secretary, and Clyde Lobo, the president of YMCA Panjim, along with other members, randomly picked the chits to complete the draw for the tournament.
Elvis Gomes said that the YMCA Panjim will host 15 teams from different parts of the country like Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Trivandrum (Kerala), Patna (Bihar) and Aizawl (Mizoram). Some of the players who will be playing are state-level players, he informed.
The teams have been drawn into four groups, each group consisting of four teams, except one which has three. Pool A has YMCA Bombay, YMCA Madras, YMCA Tirupattur and YMCA Changanacherry.
In pool B, YMCA Panjim found itself paired against YMCA Patna, YMCA Chennai and YMCA Vellore, while pool C consists of YMCA Nongtalang, YMCA Gandhidham, YMCA Faridabad and YMCA Aizawl. Pool D has three teams, namely YMCA Trivandrum, YMCA Knights and YMCA New Bhedaghat.
The tournament to be held for three days will see one team from each group make it to the semi-finals after topping its individual group. On August 29, just before the final match, an exhibition match will be played between two women's teams.
Earlier, board member Adv Joseph Vaz said the most talked about a mini version of football, futsal, originated in 1930 and was introduced in the YMCA by Juan Carlos Ceriani, a teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was named futsal, which means indoor football in Spanish, he added.
He informed that the YMCAs today are spread across 145 countries, and in India, there are about 745 of them. Its silent social activities are purely youth and women oriented, he said.
Agnelo Fernandes (Organising Committee), Prof Alvito Da Silva and Sanil Costa Frias (both board members) were also present at the press conference.