KOLKATA: It was a thriller of a finale to the seventh season of Indian Women’s League (IWL) as Odisha FC clinched their first women’s title by beating Kickstart FC 6-0 at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Odisha FC’s ambition for the Indian top-tier title has been evident in their two years in the league. From roping in Crispin Chhetri, who had guided Sethu FC to the final in 2022, at the helm to luring in the best performing Indian players in the league — in the likes of Indumathi Kathiresan from defending champions Gokulam Kerala — and providing them with the top-class facilities, Odisha had left no stone unturned in their hurried quest for the women’s crown.
“This win is massive and Odisha deserves to be in AFC with all the infrastructure they are building,” coach Chhetri told TOI from Bhubaneswar after the triumph.
However, with just two points separating them from Gokulam when they took field against Kickstart on the day, they could not afford a final-day stumble and the Odisha coach knew the task at hand.
“Champions don’t need to be asked to do extra work. They do it. They understand that excellence involves doing more than what’s required,” Chhetri wrote on the dressing room board ahead of the match for his wards.
And they responded like true champions by mustering the must-win scenario with ease as Lynda Kom (11’, 66’ 77’) hit a hat-trick, Pyari Xaxa (13’, 22’) ended her season with eight goals including a final-day brace and Karthika Angamuthu (58’) scored a screamer for the new champions.
It was heartbreak for Gokulam whose five-goal thrashing of East Bengal in Kozhikode went in vain despite Fazila Ikwaput (61’) finishing on top of the scoring charts this season with 13 goals. Soumya Guguloth (30’, 48’) scored a double while Sandhiya Ranganathan (34’) and Muskan Subba (86’) had a strike each to their names.
At the end of the title deciders on the day, Odisha finished with 31 points from 12 matches while Gokulam could not bridge the two-point gap after the same number of games. Odisha’s win meant that goal difference did not come into the equation in which the runners-up had a one-point edge.
