Durand Cup 2024 is over . The tournament was hosted by Durand Football Tournament Society in cooperation with AIFF, Eastern Command of Indian Armed Forces , Government of West Bengal and supported by the Government of Assam and Meghalaya . It is the oldest tournament in Asia. The matches were played in Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Shillong and Kokrajhar from 27th July to 31st August. Total 24 teams participated. Mohun Bagan was the defending champion. They played this year’s final also against North East United at Salt Lake Stadium , Kolkata. But this time North East United beat Mohun Bagan to win their first ever trophy in their history. Inside the regulation time the match was tied and both the teams scored two goals each . Cummings and Sahal scored goals for Mohun Bagan in the 11th and 45+5 minutes of the match. North East United came back strongly in the second half . Ajaraie and Guillermo scored goals for them in the 55th and 58th minutes of the match. The match was decided in penalties when Mohun Bagan scored 3 goals and North East United scored 4 goals. North East United didn’t miss any of their penalties. Jithin MS of North East United FC received the Golden Ball award for being the best player of the tournament. Noa Sadaoui of Kerala Blasters FC achieved the Golden Boot Award by scoring most goals in the tournament ( 6 goals ). Golden Glove award went to Gurmeet Singh of North East United FC for being best Goal Keeper of the tournament.
A . Read the passage and answer the questions below –
1 .Which team was the defending champion of the tournament?   1
2 . Write the names of the achievers of different individual awards for their performance throughout the tournament. 3
B. Write ‘T’ for true and ‘F’ for false sentences and provide supporting
statement – 2×3 =6
1 . North East United never won the trophy before this year.
Supporting Statement –
2. Total six goals were scored within the regulation time.
Supporting Statement –
3. More than thirty teams participated in the tournament.
Supporting Statement –
C. Fill in the blanks with suitable information from the text – 1×3=3
1 . The final of the Durand Cup 2024 was played ———————————–.
2. It was the —————- edition of the tournament.
3. The matches were played in ———————————- .
D. Do as directed – ( Grammar Skills ) 1×2=2
1 . Durand Cup is the oldest football tournament in Asia. ( Rewrite the sentence by using the Comparative form of the word oldest )
2. Jithin MS of North East United FC received the Golden Ball award for being the best player of the tournament. ( Change to Passive Voice)
Writing Skills –
1 . Write a newspaper report on the final of Durand Cup 2024 .    10
2. Write a short paragraph on the Durand Cup 2024.    10
3. Write a Precis based on the above passage.     10
