THE Bablu Babuz side was crowned champions for this year’s Fiji Gujarati 7-a-side soccer defeating Longloaf Hunters of Nadi 2-1 in the final held at the national hockey centre in Suva on Sunday. Laced with players from Ba and Lautoka, the side defeated SYB of Suva 2-0 in the semi-final and upset the Nadi-based side in the final.
Team official Manoj Patel said the win had set a platform for the next tournament in July.
He said the players didn’t train as a team and met for the first time on their way to Suva.
“These boys are all football players and they met for the first time in a van on our way to Suva,” said Patel.
“We didn’t train together as a team but the boys played their hearts out to win the tournament. “I believe the boys have set a benchmark for themselves and also set a target of winning the next tournament in July.”
The side’s toughest game was against SSK of Nadi in the pool game where they drew nil-all.
They later went on to win the tournament and the icing on the cake was the naming of Jitendra Lal as the best and fairest player of the tournament.
Five of the players are high school students while the youngest member of the team is a 14-year-old student and the oldest player is a 38-year-old.
