Tesco and SAP Labs Teams before the Platinum Cup finals

The Budweiser Corporate Futsal tournament kicked off on October 17^th at the Police grounds and the tournament spread over two weekends came to an end on the 4^th of November with an astounding 204 goals being scored in 40 matches. The tournament brought together sixteen corporate soccer teams eager to display their soccer skills and in the battle for the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Cup.

The league stage saw the teams divided into groups of 4 teams each, with the position in the group deciding the qualification of the teams for the various cups. Teams had to be at their best right throughout the league stage as no team could be taken lightly. The league stage saw some tight matches as well as some high scores as the teams tried to secure maximum points and goals to reach the top of the respective pools.

As expected, the competition levels rose in the knockout round with the teams in each of the cups almost evenly matched it was hard to predict the winner. The situation was demanding and the players responded brilliantly displaying their best soccer skills and team play. The overnight rains made the conditions tougher and the stage was set for some grueling matches.

In the semi-finals of the Platinum Cup Tesco beat Wipro Technologies on penalties after a deadlock in the extra time. The cool and composed Tesco shooters combining with some spectacular saves from Samiksha Rai ensured Tesco beat the much fancied Wipro Tech team 5-2. SAP Labs on the other pitch continued their aggressive play to upset ANZ 2-0 with Siraj’s double.

The finals - a clash between the two undefeated teams in the tournament was always going to exciting and the two teams Tesco and SAP Labs seemed determined to finish on top right from the word go. Both team survived the onslaught till the end of normal time. In the second half of the extra time Dilip shocked SAP Labs and Tesco emerged as the Champions of the Budweiser Corporate Futsal Cup with a slender margin of a goal.

In the Gold Cup Infosys BPO had an easy victory over Mphasis firing 5 goals and conceding only 1. Dassault too finished with a similar scoreline against e4e taking third place. Genpact lost the Silver Cup to Symphony by a close margin of 1-2; while JP Morgan took third place with a 3-0 victory over Accudoc. The finals of the Bronze Cup saw Jet Airways beat Qwest by a margin of 4-1 in extra time. Mfar finished third defeating Wipro Infotech 6-2.

Mathew from Infosys BPO with 11 goal was the highest scorer followed by Prajyot (9 goals) from SAP Labs. Best goal keeper award was bagged by Samiksha Rai from Tesco for his outstanding performance.

In the end, everyone got a bit of what they came here for: some got to show off their skills, and some others got to vent their anger on the pitch, fresh and ready to get back to the cycle of work.

The tournament was made possible thanks to the association of Budweiser - the King of Beers. A world leader in sports marketing for decades, Budweiser has been a proud sponsor of a variety of popular sports and a champion for competitive spirit and cross-cultural sportsmanship. Budweiser serves as the official beer sponsor of The F.A. Premier League, Manchester United and the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Budweiser is also the international beer sponsor for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

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Final results:

Bronze Cup
SF 1: Qwest beat Mfar Holdings 2-1; Manoj(Qwest)1, Madhu(Qwest) 1, Raja(Mfar) 1.
SF 2: Jet Airways beat Wipro Infotech 4-0; Leon 1, Suresh Babu 1, Dilip, Pawan 1.

3rd place: Mfar Holdings bt Wipro Infotech 6-2; Raja(Mfar)4, Bharani(Mfar)2, Santhu(Wipro)1,Arun(Wipro) 1.

Finals: Jet Airways beat Qwest 4-1; Pawan(Jet Airways) 2, Suresh Babu(Jet Airways)1, Leon(Jet Airways) 1, Manoj(Qwest)1.

Silver Cup
SF 1: Symphony beat JP Morgan 5-2; Sajesh(Symphony)2, Rajesh(Symphony)2, Nandan(Symphony)1, Canute(JP Morgan)1, Baiju(JP Morgan)1.
SF 2: Genpact beat Accudoc 4-2; Sadesh(Genpact) 4, Yashodhar(Genpact)1, Joseph(Accudoc)2.

3^rd place: JP Morgan beat Accudoc 3-0; Prabhakar 1, Snedden 2.

Finals: Symphony beat Genpact 2-1, Nandan(Symphony)1, Krishnamurthi(Symphony)1, Mahesh(Genpact)1.

Gold Cup

SF 1: Mphasis beat e4e 3-0; Austin 3, Elbridge 1.
SF 2: Infosys Bpo beat Dassult 2-1; Bharath(Infosys) 1, Mcclein(Infosys) 1, Sam(Dassult) 1.

3^rd place: Dassult beat e4e 5-1; Prabhakar(Dassult) 2, Ashish(Dassult) 2, Peter(Dassult) 1, Jeff(e4e)1.

Finals: Infosys Bpo beat Mphasis 5-1; Mathew(Infosys) 3, Mcclein(Infosys) 2, Elbridge(Mphasis)1.

Platinum Cup
SF 1: Sap Labs beat ANZ 2-0; Siraj 2
SF 2: Tesco beat Wipro Technologies; 5-2 (tie breaker).

3^rd place: ANZ beat Wipro Technologies 2-0; Srinivas 1, Sudhandra 1.

Finals: Tesco beat Sap Labs 1-0; Dilip 1.