Mumbai Customs and Western Railway emerged supreme winning the Men’s and Women’s crowns respectively in the 42nd Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana rink hockey tournament.
Customs playing with plenty of grit and determination recovered for a 0-2 deficit to record a come-from-behind 4-2 win against reigning champions CTC (Champions Training Centre) SC in a tense and thrilling men’s final encounter, at the floodlit WCG turf.
Earlier, Western Railway defended resolutely, soaked in a lot of pressure and hit on the break to crush the hopes of arch-rivals Central Railway by charging to a fluent 4-1 win.
Manisha K. played a key role scoring twice in Western’s win, while teammates Lily Chanu and Anupa Barla scored one goal each, while Preeti Dubey converted a penalty stroke for Central’s lone goal in the match.
In the men’s summit clash, CTC immediately got into their groove and in a flash scored two quick goals through Devinder Walmiki to gain the advantage. But, the dogged Customs outfit gradually settled down and with a collective effort they started to launch a series of attacks in the rival goal and succeeded in scoring four goals to clinch the match in their favour. Jayesh Jadhav, Iktidar Ishrat, Nikhil Pardeshi and Laxmikant K., all struck one goal each to secure their triumph.
Mumbai Customs received the glittering ‘champions’ trophy and cash prize of Rs 50,000 while CTC collected the runners-up trophy and a purse of Rs 30,000. Western Railway women were presented with the ‘champions’ trophy and a cash award of Rs 25,000 while Central Railway got the runners-up trophy and Rs 15,000.
Final results – Men Open: Mumbai Customs Red 4 (Jayesh Jadhav, Iktidar Ishrat, Nikhil Pardeshi, Laxmikant K.) beat CTC Blue 2 (Devinder Walmiki 2).
Women Open: Western Railway 4 (Manisha K. 2, Lily Chanu, Anupa Barla) beat Central Railway 1 (Preeti Dubey).