Johnny D’Souza showed good opportunism and perfect finishing touch and went on to score four goals to power Rebels SC to a facile 9-2 win against Jablonski SC 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, late on Tuesday evening.
The spearhead in the Rebels attack, Johnny slotted home the opening three goals to notch up a fine hat-trick and put his team in a commanding position. Mukul Khilnani, who played a good supporting role with three goals, scored the fourth goal before the experienced Enrico Piperno converted a penalty stroke to give Rebels a 5-0 half-time lead.
Immediately on resumption, Johnny struck his fourth goal before Jablonski managed to score two quick goals through the efforts of Harsh M., to reduce the deficit. But, Rebels continued to press forward and scored three more goals with Noah D’Mello netting the seventh goal before Mukul hammered in the final two goals to complete the win and carry Rebels into the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Sea View SC enjoyed a successful opening day as both their women’s and men’s teams won their respective matches. In a women’s quarter-final encounter Sea View overpowered Halleeys SC 6-0 with Nimmy Niar and Mamta Passi, both scoring two goals each, while Akshaya Shetty and Yogita Passi chipped in with one each to round off the winning tally.
Shelton Carvalho scored two goals, the second at the call of time, which helped Sea View overcome a spirited Compneroes SC 4-3 in another men’s pre-quarter-final encounter. Karan Kapoor and Nikhil Poojary added one each to secure Sea View’s win, while Harsh M. netted both the goals for the losing side.
Results – Women’s (quarter-finals): Sea view 6 (Nimmy Niar 2, Mamta Passi 2, Akshaya Shetty, Yogita Passi) beat Halleys SC 0.
Western Railway 5 (Jaswinder Kaur 3, Ranjita Thokchom 2) beat Valchandsons SC 2 (Manshi Belgaonkar, Natasha Braganza).
Men’s (pre-quarter-finals): Bombay Republicans 8 (Pranit Naik 3, Venkatesh Devekar 3, Kushal Meghwal, Akshay Avhad) beat Central Bank of India 0.
Sea View SC 4 (Shelton Carvalho 2, Nikhil Poojary, Karan Kapoor) beat Companeroes SC 3 (Sushil Ekka 2, Jess Kini).
Rebels SC 9 (Johnny 4, Mukul Khilnani 3, Enrico Fernandes, Noah D’Mello) beat Jablonski 2 (Harsh M. 2).