Defending champions CTC (Champions Training Centre) crashed out suffering an 8-9 sudden-death defeat at the hands of Coorg XI in an exciting semi-final match of the St. Peter’s Youth Centre organized St. Peter’s Hockey Championship 2023 and played at the St. Stanislaus HS Astro Park, Bandra on Saturday afternoon. The match finished 4-4 and 7-7 in the penalty shootout, before Coorg XI managed to snatch the win in the sudden death.
Later, Mumbai Customs staved off a strong challenge from Indian Navy and went on to record a fighting 3-2 victory to set up a clash with Coorg XI in the final.
In an absorbing contest, the Mumbai Super League champions CTC started on a promising note and took the lead through Manpreet Singh in the second minute. But, a spirited Coorg XI scored three goals through Chiran Madappa, Bharat M.K. and captain Likhith P. to take a 3-1 lead. CTC cut the deficit with Tejas Chavan scoring their second goal a minute before the half-time hooter and went into the break trailing 2-3.
After the change of ends, Coorg XI skipper Likhith added their fourth goal to increase their lead to 4-2 by the end of the third quarter. But, the determined CTC outfit bounced back in style scoring twice in the final quarter through Olympian Devindar Walmiki and Affan Yusuf to draw level and force the penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout and sudden death, Bhavin Kushalappa and Deekshit successfully converted from both their attempts and Likhith scored one to seal Coorg’s win. CTC managed to convert through Akshay Avhad, Aditya Rasal, Tejas Chavan and Walmiki. However, Rasal was unfortunate as from his second attempt his push narrowly missed the target.
Result: Coorg XI 9 (Likith P. 3, Bhavin Kushalappa 2, Deekshit A.S. 2, Chiran Madappa, Bharat M.K.) beat CTC 8 (Tejas Chavan 2, Devindar Walmiki 2, Manpreet Singh, Affan Yusuf, Akshay Avhad, Aditya Rasal).