After a lapse of 12 years the Motibhai-sponsored Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) Suva branch football won the 93rd FTU annual conference competition after beating Labasa 1-0 at Subrail Park last Thursday.

Labasa as hosts had the vocal backing of their fans but Suva stood firm and won.

Last year’s hosts and defending champions, Rewa, exited the tournament after losing to Babasiga Lions Labasa 1-0 in the first semi-final, while Suva survived beating Lautoka 4-2 in the other semi-final.

Suva FTU branch chairperson, Rajnesh Lingam, could not contain his emotions at the final whistle recalling the memories of their painful loss to Rewa last year.

Lingam described the win at Subrail Park as ‘memorable’ especially beating Labasa in front of their fans.

“Winning at Subrail Park has always been my dream, playing the Babasiga Lions at Subrail Park was never going to be easy as they had several district reps like Ashnil Raju, Ajesh Narayan and Edwin Sahayam,” Lingam said.

Suva had the likes of Andy Reddy, Azeem Razak, Jone Naraba, Ravneel Pal, Navneet Chand, Maneet Lal, Krishneel Singh and Ravikash Krishna, who was awarded the player of the final.

The Capital City boys drew nil-all against Nasinu in its first pool match, but beat the boys from the Garden Island 2-0 to top its pool. Suva beat Nadi in the quarter-final. The green-machine led 2-0, but Suva scored three second half goals to win.

Ravikash Krishna was the hero for the Southern based side after he slotted home the winner via a penalty in the second half.

Lingam thanked his players for playing their hearts out despite the nagging bruises.

Nadi is hosting the tournament in 2024. Lingam thanked sponsors- Motibhai, Punjas, Sharma’s Printery, South Point Lodge, Bakewell Cakes, Fiji Traders, Vodafone Fiji, Dickson, AK Electrical (Wellington), Ajeshni Nand, Shanti Singh and Vinal Prasad.

Quarter-final results: Rewa won on penalties against Nasinu, Labasa 2-0 Savusavu, Suva 3-2 Nadi and Lautoka 2-0 Bua.

Other Sports

The Suva women’s volleyball team won the competition for the first time, after beating Nasinu in the final.

Nasinu won the netball competition while Rewa were runners-up. Nasinu also clinched the men’s volleyball title with the Taveuni as runners-up.

The capital girls, Suva, defeated Nasinu in the women’s volleyball final.

The Suva men’s volleyball team lost to Taveuni, while the netball team lost to Nasinu in the semis, respectively.

Story by: sampras.anand@fijisun.com.fj