Upcoming talented youngsters Venkatesh Devkar and Pranit Naik were both in impressive form and notched up fine hat-tricks.
Venkatesh Devkar scored a hat-trick to steer Bombay Republicans to a facile 8-0 win against Jablonski SC in a Men’s first round match of the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana’s 38th Victor D’Mello Memorial Invitational Rink Hockey Tournament
Venkatesh scored three goals in leading Bombay Republicans to a 8-0 win against Jablonski SC while Pranit led from the front and hit the target three times as India Rush trounced Savio Club ‘B’, Andheri 10-0 in Men’s Open first round matches of the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana’s 38th Victor D’Mello Memorial Invitational Rink Hockey Tournament 2019, organized under the auspices of the MHAL, and played at the Gymkhana’s floodlit tennis courts late Monday evening.
Bombay Republicans were in complete control and Venkatesh teammates Darshan Gaonkar struck a brace of goals while Raj Patil, Bhim Batala and Santosh Singh added one each to complete the margin of victory.
Pranit received excellent support from strike partner Kushal Maghwal who chipped in with two goals and Akshay Awhad, Raj Solanki, Tikaram Thakulla, Anuj Singh and Krunal Gohil, all contributing one apiece to complete India Rush’s perfect 10 win.
Meanwhile in women’s action, defending champions Central Railway took off on the right track and steamrolled past Nadiya Hockey winning by a convincing 8-0 margin. Central Railway proved far too superior and scored at regular intervals to run away with the match. Ranjita Sanasam the spearhead in the attack led the way with three superb goals while Preety Dubay and Ramngaizuari, both struck a brace of goals each while Ponnamma M.N. netted one to round off the winning margin.
In another Men’s encounter, Savio Club ‘A’, Andheri showed tremendous fighting spirit as they recovered from a 0-2 deficit to overcome hosts Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana by a narrow 4-3 margin to advance into the quarter-finals. Peter Fernandes struck three goals and Savio Fernandes got one for the winners, while WCG scored through Marcio Fernandes, Ronny Mendonca and Vernon Correa.
Results – Women (1st round): Central Railway 8 (Ranjita Sanasam 3, Preety Dubay 2, Ramngaizuari 2, Ponnamma M.N.) beat Nadiya Hockey 0.
Men (1st round): Union Bank of India 4 (Navin Kheratkar, Vinit Shetty, Suraj Sham, Prince Chaurasia) beat Sea View SC 1 (Shelton Carvalho).
India Rush 10 (Pranit Naik 3, Kushal Meghwal 2, Akshay Awhad, Raj Solanki, Tikaram Thakulla, Anuj Singh, Krunal Gohil) beat Savio Club ‘B’, Andheri 1 (Roncy Patel).
Bombay Republicans 8 (Venkatesh Devkar 3, Darshan Gaonkar 2, Raj Patil, Bhim Batala, Santosh Singh) beat Jablonski SC 0.
Savio Club ‘A’, Andheri 4 (Peter Fernandes 3, Savio Fernandes) beat Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana 3 (Marcio Fernandes, Ronny Mendonca, Vernon Correa).