Central Railway took off on the right track and smoothly chugged past Western Railway to register a fluent 4-1 victory in the Women’s Open final of the the inaugural ‘Savio Super 5s’ hockey tournament, organized by the Savio Hockey Club & Academy (SHC&A), under the auspices of Hockey Maharashtra, and played at the St. Dominic Savio High School ground, Andheri (East).
The victorious Central Railway women players are all smiles as they proudly pose with the ‘Champions’ trophy along with Sanjeev Kapoor, a famous Indian celebrity chef, entrepreneur and television personality
Dishing out a perfect combined performance the Central Railway side immediately picked up steam and struck three goals inside the opening five minutes and went on to gain a 3-0 half-time lead and take a stronghold of the summit clash. Preety Dubey, H. Lalrautfeli and Renuka S. were responsible for getting the goals.
Western Railway stung by those early setbacks fought on gamely and they managed to find success in the initial minutes of the second half when their captain Anupa Barla hit the target. They continued to search for more goals but their attackers were kept in check by the Central defenders.
The determined Central outfit dashed Western’s attempts of getting back in the match as their impressive forward Preety added the fourth goal to secure their success and emerge champions.
In the Veteran’s final, Mumbai Raje produced another solid performance to prevail over a spirited Sea View SC by the odd goal in three and claim the top honours. After a barren first half Mumbai Raje scored twice through Meghraj S. and Samir Coutinho to take a 2-0 lead. Sea View cut the deficit with Gavin Vandrine scoring the lone goal.
The Mumbai Raje team are all smiles as they proudly pose with the Veteran men’s winners’ trophy
The Central Railway players were presented with the glittering champions’ rolling trophy and a cash award of Rs 35,000, while Western Railway team received the runner-up trophy and a prize of Rs 20,000.
Mumbai Raje the Veteran champions received the winners’ rolling trophy and Rs 25,000 while Sea View got the runners-trophy and Rs 10,000.
Results: Women’s Open – finals: Central Railway 4 (Preety Dubey 2, H. Lalrautfeli, Renuka S.) beat Western Railway 1 (Anupa Barla).
Individual awards – Player of the tournament: H. Lalrautfeli (C. Railway); Best goalkeeper: Divya Tepe (C. Railway); Best defender: L. Nute (C. Railway).
Veteran’s – semi-finals: Mumbai Raje 2 (Meghraj S. Samir Coutinho) beat Sea View SC 1 (Shelton Carvalho).
Individual awards – Player of the tournament: Stanley Fernandes (Mumbai Raje); Best goalkeeper: Brian D’Souza (Mumbai Raje); Best defender: Madan Vishwanath (Mumbai Raje).