KUALA LUMPUR – The 16th edition of the RSC-Datuk Chu Ah Nge International Junior Football Tournament is all set to make its comeback after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tournament is scheduled to be held this weekend at the Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara Annexe.
The organising committee chairman, Datuk Gerald Rakish Kumar, said that this competition is one of the biggest grassroots tournaments in the region.
He said the tournament attracted well-known football clubs and associations when it first started in 2005.
“The main objective of this tournament is to foster fellowship through a friendly competitive spirit among the football fraternity within Malaysia and neighbouring countries.
“Our hope as the organisers is to unearth special talents from amongst the 960 players that will participate in this event to continue the legacy of the soccer and to take grassroots football to the next level,” he further added.
Meanwhile, this junior tournament will see 80 teams competing in various age groups: Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, and Under-16.
56 local teams will be competing in this tournament, while there will be 24 foreign teams, including Singapore (9), Maldives (4), Indonesia (4), Thailand (2), and Vietnam (5).
It is also noted that the Singapore team, known as JSSL FC, has won the title for the past five consecutive years, starting from 2015 to 2019.
This was preceded by the Kuala Lumpur team, known as CIMB YFA, which won for four consecutive years from 2009 to 2012 in this tournament.
This tournament has also received tremendous support from the soccer luminaries in the form of ex-Malaysian Soccer International, including Datuk Santokh Singh, Wong Kam Fook, P. Somasundram, Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, P. Maniam, Teoh Yit Huat, Vincent L, V. Kalimuthu, and Vincent Thambyrajah. – The Vibes, December 1, 2022