Hutchison 3G, JP Morgan, shine on Day One

JP Morgan, Hutchison 3G shine on Day One by winning all three league games to book MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship QF berth

Hutchison 3G, JP Morgan, shine on Day One

JP Morgan, Hutchison 3Gu00a0 shine on Day One by winning all three league games to book MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship QF berth

There was no change in the hype and hoopla in the second edition of the MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship as well. The neighbourhood of Parsi colony woke up to the MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship, which kicked off with great fanfare at the Parsi Gymkhana, Dadar on Saturday. Twenty eight teams divided into seven groups competed for the Rs 100, 000 cash prize.

That's right: Hutchison 3G (in yellow) and Reliance Industries players
vie for the ball on Day One of the MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship
at Parsi Gymkhana on Saturday. PICs/Suresh KK

Defending champions, HDFC Bank drew their first match against Intelenet-B, but registered two wins in the remaining league matches to qualify for the pre-quarters. However, the most impressive teams in the league matches were Hutchison 3G and JP Morgan, who won all the three league encounters to book a direct berth into the quarter-final. HDFC Group, who also won all the three league games, missed out on a direct quarter-final berth on goal difference.

Corporate biggies -- British Airways, Essar, Reliance Industries Limited, Jet Airways, IKON and Intelenet-B put up a superlative show to qualify for the pre-quarters. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) surprised everyone by winning their first two matches and drawing the third.

Wilfred Anthony from JP Morgan led the race for the coveted Golden Boot award of Rs 25,000 by scoring eight goals in three matches while Craig D'Souza from Hutchison 3G was close second with seven goals.

The MiD DAY Corporate Soccer Championship is a five-a-side tournament with each half of seven minutes and every team has to play three league matches to qualify for the pre-quarters.

Manajit Ghoshal, MD & CEO of MiD DAY Infomedia Ltd, inaugurated the event by releasing balloons, while the captains of all teams took an oath of fair play, which was honoured during the day's matches.

They made it tou00a0 pre-quarters...
Intelenet-A, IKON Abode, British Airways, BMC, HDFC-G, Essar Group, HDFC-B, Intelenet-B, Online Tourism, Reliance Industries, Jet Airways and Power Spa.

Brief scores:
* Group 1
Intelenet-A vs HDFC-G (0-1), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) vs Big Tree (3-1), HDFC (G) vs Big Tree (4-0), Intelenet-A vs
M&M (3-1), Intelenet-A vs Big Tree (2-0), HDFC-G vs M & M (3-0).

* Group 2
IKON Abode vs Essar Group
(0-0), Zzebra PR vs Convonix (0-2), Essar vs Convonix (1-1), IKON vs Zzebra PR (5-0), IKON vs Convonix (3-1), Essar vs Zzebra PR (5-0).

* Group 3
Jet Airways vs Online Tourism (1-1), Multi Screen Media (MSM) vs Konkan Rlys (0-1), Online Tourism vs Konkan Rlys (4-1), Jet Airways vs MSM (0-2), Jet Airways vs Konkan Rlys (2-0), Online Tourism vs MSM (1-0).

* Group 4
Hostway Ltd vs Reliance Industries (0-2), Universal Music vs Hutch 3G (1-3), Reliance vs Hutch 3G (0-3), Hostway vs Universal Music
(1-0), Hostway vs Hutch 3G
(0-10), Reliance vs Universal Music (2-0).

* Group 5
Intelenet-B vs AirCheck (1-0), Football Dev vs British Airways (1-8), Intelenet-B vs Football Dev (7-0), AirCheck vs BA (1-2), AirChecku00a0 vs Football Dev (3-0).

* Group 6
BMC vs NSE (4-0), Zycus vs HDFC-B (0-5), BMC vs Zycus
(2-1), NSE vs HDFC-B (1-2), NSEu00a0 vs Zycus (0-1), BMC vs
HDFC-B (1-1).

* Group 7
Viacom 18 vs JP Morgan (0-1), Power Spau00a0 vs Michael Page (1-0), Viacom vsu00a0 Power Spa (0-2) , JP Morgan vs Michael Pg (3-0), Viacom vs Michael Pg (0-2), JP Morgan vs Power Spa (0-7).