Imphal, June 29: With the Euro 2004 tournament throwing up more and more surprises with each game, hundreds of football enthusiasts in Lamka who regularly stayed up till 3 am in the night for catching the live telecast of the games in faraway Portugal are a harried lot these days.

With yesterday's underdogs in dominating position that reminds one of the recently held general election in India, more than 90 percent of the 800 odd football lovers who placed bets on the tournament have already got their entries wrong even as the semi-finals are yet to start.

While hot favorites England and France, whose star players are as familiar to many Lamka people as their next door neighbors, were quickly eliminated, the last straw for the punters was the surprise defeat of Denmark by still unbeaten Czech Republic in the last quarter finals match.

Many people here are yet to come to terms with the fact that the Czechs have advanced this far and more so in such devastating a manner.

There are at least two agencies in CCpur which organize betting for the tournament.

Between the two agencies, almost 900 persons had bought the betting forms.

Those who could correctly predict the semi finalists, finalists, winners and runner up will get cash award ranging from Rs.3000 to Rs.5000.However, the agencies need not worry.

One agency has today confided that more than 90 percent of the punters are already wrong on their entries.

It may be mentioned that power supply and cable service in the town have continued overnight on match days in deference to popular appeals.

There are also at least four different football tournaments presently on in the town, simultaneously with the Euro-2004.

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