ACC A and Rainbow Sports Club emerged as the 13th SIFF-JNH Soccer 2010 champions in the First and Second Divisions respectively at the Sharbatly ground here recently. Rainbow Sports Club had a comfortable ride against ACC-B while recording a 2-0 victory to bag the Second Division honors for the first time. Whereas the three-time champion Western Union-ACC A was stretched to the maximum by a doughty Eastern Bharath Cultural Center (BCC). After a 2-2 deadlock at the end of the regulation time, ACC prevailed 4-2 in the penalty shootout to clinch the First Division title for the fourth time. The 13th championship which was organized by Saudi Indian Football Forum (SIFF), was mainly sponsored by Jeddah National Hospital (JNH) and supported by Alpha Cargo, Comfort Travel Group, Eastern Curry Powder, Shifa Jeddah Polyclinic, Newsline Cargo and Al-Abeer Polyclinic. Prominent guests who graced the finals were, B.S. Mubarak, Acting Consul General; V.P. Mohammed Ali, MD, Jeddah National Hospital (JNH); Salah Karadan, Chairman, IISJ MC; Basheer, Chief Auditor, JNH; Saleem Rawther, Group Operation Manager, Al-Abeer Medical Center; and Mir Gazanfar Ali Zaki, former Santhosh Trophy player. While Rainbow claimed a SIFF title for the first time its victory denied ACC the chance for a rare double in the tournament. ACC B, which has won the championship twice earlier, was gunning for a hat trick title win. Contrary to the expectations Rainbow maintained its cool and struck once in each half through Mohammed Unni and Abdul Basheer. With a favorite's tag Western Union-ACC survived the pressure and established its dominance when Mohammed Safeer took the lead midway through the first half. Giant-killer Eastern BCC, which had knocked another favorite Mohsen Cargo-Friends in the semifinals, attacked for an equalizer and found it just after two minutes, more through the brilliance of a silent striker Jaseer who turned an assassin when his intelligent left-footer from an acute angle beat the goalkeeper hands down. As his teammates were expecting a cross from left flank, which seemed the best option given the circumstances, Jaseer preferred to take a shot at the goal. With honors even both the teams went for the winner after resumption and in their eagerness and over enthusiam the game also turned a bit rough. However, the silent assassin Jaseer struck again for Eastern BCC with another beauty, again an intelligent left-footer. When things were slowly getting wrapped up for Eastern BCC, one of its defenders, instead of trying to clear the ball for safety in the danger area simply blasted against a charging Jaffer Ali and the ball rebounded off Jaffer Ali into the goal in a flash. In the tension filled tie-breaker, one by one, four ACC strikers showed no tension and coolly slotted home while BCC could convert only two from four shots to lose the tie-breaker 4-2 and with that a coveted title. Special awards were given to the following outstanding performers: First Division: Fair play – Real Kerala FC; best goalkeeper – Mujeeb (Eastern BCC); best defender – Rauf (Mohsen Cargo-Friends Club); best player – Jasser (Eastern BCC); top scorer – Abdul Malik (Western Union-ACC). Second Division: Fair play – Young Challengers (YCC); best goalkeeper – Riyaz Mohamed (ACC-B); best defender – Taqi (ACC-B); best player – Ilyas (Rainbow); top scorer – Fairooz (ACC
