Manipur cruised to the semi-finals thrashing Telangana by 4-1 goals in a match of the ongoing Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men's National Football Championship 2023-24 played at Narainpur, Chhattisgarh.
It was a clash of the titans as Manipur who is Group A winner in the league round was pitted against Telangana, also a Group H winner, to battle it out for the best, seeking the crucial semi-final berth.
Telangana put Manipur in a tight situation as the former got the opening goal from Pitla Saiyashwanth in the 21st minute of the game. But Manipur soon got the reprieve as Telangana puddled in their mud with goalkeeper Rishab Pradhan dropping in an own goal in the 23rd minute.
Spurted by the sudden turn of events, Manipur raised the bar of the game with Y Rohit Singh converting a penalty in the 30th minute for the lead and later they zoomed off with A Bhaskar's goal in the 33rd minute to control the game with 3-1 in first half. Bhaskar repeated his feat with a second half goal in the 77th minute for the resounding win.
Manipur players M David, N Dhanaraj and Telangana player Ajith Sherlawar got booked with yellow cards in the match.
