Narainpur (Chhattisgarh), May 14 (UNI) Mizoram, playing their first match in Group D, earned a comfortable 4-0 victory against Maharashtra in the Swami Vivekananda Men’s U-20 National

Football Championship at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground here on Wednesday.

Lalhruaitluanga opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a shot from distance, Laldawngzuala added a second, a few minutes later. F Malsawmtluanga curled in a free-kick from around 30 yards out just after the hour mark to make it three.

Stephen Ngurchhuanmawia scored in the second half injury time to earn a big win for Mizoram, who now have three points from one game, and have gone second in the group.

Tripura climbed to the top of Group D in the Swami Vivekananda Men’s U-20 National Football Championship after defeating Himachal Pradesh 2-1 in a tightly contested match. All goals were scored in the first half.

Naba Kishore Singha scored both the goals for Tripura. His first was a finish at the near post after he was played in behind the Himachal defence via an aerial through ball from the left in the 11th minute.

Aryan Thakur levelled things up for Himachal Pradesh in the 21st minute with a deftly-placed left-footed strike, but Naba Kishore scored the decisive goal, a tap-in from inside the six-yard box, to

win the match for his side.

Tripura are now top of Group D, having earned six points from their two matches. Maharashtra are third, while Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh occupy the respective bottom two spots.

UNI BM