Favourites Mumbai Customs won the Men’s Open title in the inaugural edition of the ‘Savio Super 5s’ hockey tournament, organized by the Savio Hockey Club & Academy (SHC&A), under the auspices of Hockey Maharashtra. Twice in arrears, a resilient Mumbai Customs staged a strong fight back to quell the spirited from Ave Maria SC, Dadar by pulling off a 4-2 win in a tense and thrilling final, played at the St. Dominic Savio High School ground, Andheri (East).
The victorious Mumbai Customs players pose with the ‘Champions’ trophy along with Chief Guest Olympian Margaret Toscano, former India Hockey player and Dronacharya Award recipient Marzban Patel (Bawa) at the prize distribution function of the ‘Savio Super 5s’ hockey tournament
For the champs Muthana B. netted a brace of goals, while Nikhil Pardeshi and Jayesh Jadhav scored one each to secure the victory. The Dadar outfit did well to score twice in the first session through Vinay Valmiki and Sneden Mendes to put up a good fight.
Unfancied Ave Maria, who had recorded a stunning 4-2 win against strong contenders Central Railway, started in impressive fashion and took an early lead when Vinay Valmiki rocked the Customs citadel to open the scoring. But, midway through the first half, Customs’ industrious midfielder Muthana scored his first goal to cancel out Ave Maria’s lead. A few minutes later, Mendes was on target as the Dadar side regained the lead, but their joy was short-lived as Customs restored parity when the hard-working Pardeshi scored on the stroke of the half-time hooter.
After the change of ends, Customs played with greater urgency and created the better chances and capitalized from two openings scoring through their experienced forward Jayesh Jadhav and Muthana who scored his second goal to round-off the winning margin and to seal their triumph.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Customs after trailing 0-3 against Champions Training Centre bounced back to carve out a 7-5 win while Ave Maria scored a shock 5-2 win against fancied Central Railway.
Olympian Margaret Toscano, who represented the Indian hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Games presented Mumbai Customs with the glittering champions’ rolling trophy and a cash award of Rs 35,000, while Ave Maria team received the runner-up trophy and a prize of Rs 20,000.
Results – Men’s Open – semi-final: Mumbai Customs 7 (Nikhil Pardeshi 3, Moses Pulanthara 2, Jayesh Jadhav 2) beat Champions Training Centre 5 (Abharan Suden 3, Manpreet Singh, Devinder Walmiki);
Ave Maria, Dadar 5 (Girish Pimpale 2, Vinay Walmiki 2, Sneden Mendes) beat Central Railway 2 (Rajendra Pawar, Anup Walmiki).
Final: Mumbai Customs 4 (Muthana B. 2, Nikhil Pardeshi, Jayesh Jadhav) beat Ave Maria 2 (Vinay Valmiki, Sneden Mendes).
Individual awards – Best goalkeeper: Lincoln Taites (Mumbai Customs); Best defender: Nikhil Pardeshi (Mumbai Customs); Best Forward: Moses Pulanthara (Mumbai Customs).