United Bandra goalkeeper Ian Vaz dished out an outstanding, gallant performance and was rock solid in goal, which saved the day for his team as they carved out a hard-fought 6-5 win against an experienced Mumbai Customs in a Men’s Open first round match of the Mount Carmel Invitation Floodlit Rink Hockey Tournament – 2018, organised by the Carmel Sports Committee and played under floodlights at the Mount Carmel Church compound.
The brave and gutsy custodian Ian displayed silver quick reflexes and fine anticipation as he made a series of timely saves, including a couple from penalty strokes, to restrict the Customs outfit to just five goals. Ian’s teammates upfront played good supporting roles with Royston Lobo leading their charge with a fine hat-trick, while Akshay Jadhav netted a brace of goals and Imran Zaiee got one to secure United Brandra’s win. Customs seasoned players Errol D’Silva scored three goals and Stanley Fernandes added two.
In women’s quarter-final action, Freunds SC recorded a stunning 5-4 win against a formidable Central Railway to advance to the semi-finals. Sharmin Bassha and Meenakshi Agarwal combined nicely and both struck a brace of goals while Madhavi Patil chipped in with one to complete the goals tally for the victors. Central Railway scored through Kavita Vidhyarthi who scored two goals and one each from Sushila Chanu and H. Lalruatfeli.
In the second match, Hockey Lovers tamed Hugh Fernandes Academy 5-2. Kiran Shetty notched a hat-trick of goal while Lynette Lobo and Althea D’Alemeida added one each to seal the win. The Academy side scored through Priyanka Mhatre and Pallavi Shelar.
The other two men’s encounters turned out to be one-sided affairs, with Central Railway powering their way to a 12-3 win against Rush SC, while Ave Maria charged to a 11-1 victory against Mansi Foundation to book their place in the quarter-finals.
Results – Women’s (quarter-finals): Freunds SC 5 (Sharmin Bassha 2, Meenakshi Agarwal 2, Madhavi Patil) beat Central Railway 4 (Kavita Vidhyarthi 2, Sushila Chanu, H. Lalruatfeli).
Hockey Lovers 5 (Kiran Shetty 3, Lynette Lobo, Althea D’Alemeida) beat Hugh Fernandes Academy 2 (Priyanka Mhatre, Pallavi Shelar).
Men’s (pre-quarter-finals): Central Railway 12 (Basvaraj S.A. 6, Anup Walmiki 4, Narad Bahadur 2) beat Rush SC 3 (Prashant Todkar, Bhushan Khanorkar, Ganesh Katwe).
Ave Maria SC 11 (Nitin Kumar 5, Vikram Singh 3, Solomon Alexander 3) beat Mansi Foundation 1 (Deep Mistry).
United Bandra 6 (Royston Lobo 3, Akshay Jadhav 2, Imran Zaiee) beat Mumbai Customs 5 (Errol D’Silva 3, Stanley Fernandes 2).