Bodyline FC staved off a late spirited fightback from Bandra Packers to script a close 2-1 victory in the women’s final and regain the Late Dereyk DeSouza Memorial Trophy, in the Catholic Gymkhana Annual Rink Football tournament. Kimberley Fernandes and Reetika Sahani struck a goal each to snatch the victory for Bodyline, who had lost 1-0 to U.K. United in last year’s final. Packers, who produced a late charge managed to reduce the margin through Deepika Masurkar’s goal.
The Champions … Bodyline FC players are seen receiving the Late Dereyk DeSouza Memorial Trophy from Chief Guest, Eliza Nelson (centre), hockey Olympian
The triumphant girl’s from the Bodyline team received the glittering Dereyk DeSouza Memorial Trophy and a cash award of Rs 15,000 from Chief Guest, Eliza Nelson, hockey Olympian and captain of the 1982 Asian Games Gold medal winning India team. Nelson, a recipient of the Padmashree award, presented Bandra Packers team with the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 10,000.
Last year’s runners-up Bodyline, this time put up a more aggressive and coordinated approach against their opponents Bandra Packers, who also played a good attacking game to put up a good fight in this summit clash which witnessed a close, even contest.
However, Bodyline’s intelligent playmaker Ameeta Venkat, from out of the blue produced two smart passes, one in each half, to set up her teammates to find the net. And quite correctly the tournament committee named Ameeta as the ‘Player of the final’ and she was presented with a Trophy and cash award of Rs 2,000.
First, Ameeta with a precise diagonal through found Kimberley on the right and she with a first-timed essay fired to the roof of the net to give Bodyline a 1-0 half-time advantage.
Later, Ameeta once again worked her magic to fox the rival defence. Ameeta with a snap backheel put Reetika in the clear and she did not disappoint scoring from close to double the lead.
Not prepared to give up, Packers had a couple of chances but their strikers Snehal Manchakar and Namrata Thakur failed to convert before Deepika managed to find the net to cut the deficit in the final minutes of the game. In the remaining period Bodyline did not panic and kept their cool to deny Packers from finding another goal, which helped secure their success.
Results – Women for the Dereyk DeSouza Memorial Trophy (finals): Bodyline FC 2 (Kimberley Fernandes, Reetika Sahani) beat Bandra Packers 1 (Deepika Masurkar). Player of the final: Ameeta Venkat (Bodyline FC).