Darjeeling: Believe it. Brazil lifted the Fifa World Cup 2018 trophy in Darjeeling, which likes to call itself "The World Cup Town".
The
final was played between six teams with Argentina, France, Belgium,
Croatia and England completing the line-up. And if you thought that Cup
finals are only played between two teams, you just need to jog your
memory to 1950.
In
that edition of the tournament, Brazil had lifted the Cup by winning in a
league format consisting of four teams that had entered the final group
stages.
On
Saturday in Darjeeling, this Fifa precedent was played out to justify a
final of six teams at the Fifa World Cup Open Quiz Contest 2018, held
at the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall.
The open quiz contest was organised by a group of quizzers - Udaya
Mani Pradhan, Prolad Roka, Lakpa T. Sherpa, Diwarkar Thapa and Jit
Pradhan under the banner Megamind.
If the Samba boys had
disappointed their fans all over with a quarter-final exit in Russia
this year, the Brazilian team consisting of Ronhit Luitel and Arbind
Kumar Prasad of Gyanoday Niketan knocked down their opponents in
Darjeeling.
Accumulating a whopping 209 points, the Gyanoday boys
pushed the England pair of Nawang Sherpa and Aradhya K. Yonzone -
students of St Joseph's School (North Point) - to the second spot with
98 points.
Hopes are high that Croatia, which has reached the
World Cup final for the first time, will lift the trophy in Russia. But
in Darjeeling, the team consisting of Yogesh Thami and Ashish Tamang,
who are now out of college, had to settle for the third spot.
How
many teams have lifted the World Cup till now? Eight, came the answer
from the Brazilian team, to a loud round of applause. The applause
continued till they held the Cup.
"It feels good," gasped Luitel,
admiring the trophy in their hands. "The basic objective of this event
it to give a meaningful farewell to this entertaining tournament and to
encourage open quizzing in town. We have taken a small step forward,"
said Udaya Mani Pradhan.
Nearly 50 teams had participated in the quiz, of which the six made it to the finals.
The Telegraph
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