Bombay Republicans SC had mixed fortunes as their women’s outfit sneaked into the final, while the men’s team suffered a heartbreak conceding a goal from a penalty stroke in the final seconds and bowed out.
In the women’s semi-finals, Republicans and Central Railway fought tooth and nail and the match finished in a 1-all stalemate before the former won a tense sudden death tie-breaker 5-4 to emerge victorious and book a place in the final of the Mount Carmel Open Invitation Floodlit Rink Hockey Tournament – 2019, organised by the Carmel Sports Committee under the auspices of the MHAL and played at the Mount Carmel Church compound on Thursday night.
The scorers for Republicans was Rituja Mullick (3 goals), Chaitrali Gawde (2 goals) and Sanggai Chanu (one goal) while Central Railway scored through Lahlunmawai S. (3 goals) and Ponnamma M.N. and Renoka Yadav, both scoring one goal each.
In the summit round, Republicans will clash with Freunds SC who overcame F. United 2-1. Bhagyashree Agarwal and Wilma Kanan scored for the winners, while Tanaz Mohammed struck the lone goal for the losers.
Later, Republicans men’s outfit put up determined spirited display against Union Bank of India in the men’s semi-final which witnessed an engrossing battle for supremacy. The scores ran close till the end and the match seemed to headed for 4-all draw. But, second before the final hooter, Republicans were unfortunate to concede a penalty stroke which was successfully converted by Anup Walmiki to help Union Bank snatch a close win and advance to the final.
Results – Women’s semi-finals: Bombay Republicans 6 (Rituja Mullick 3, Chaitrali Gawde 2, Sanggai Chanu)beat Central Railway 5 (Lahlunmawai S. 3, Ponnamma M.N., Renoka Yadav).
Freunds SC 2 (Bhagyashree Agarwal, Wilma Kanan) beat F. United 1 (Tanaz Mohammed).
Vetran men’s semi-finals: Rebels SC 5 (Solomon Alexander 3, Meghraj Murthy 2) beat Sunday Sultans 3 (Andrew Vaz, Savio Lamb, Diago D’Souza).
Hockey Dadar 9 (Niren Pimenta 3, Oswald D’Souza 2, Ryan D. 2, Gavin Vandrine 2) beat Hockey Thane 1 (Michael Reynolds).
Men’s Open semi-finals: Union Bank of India 5 (Suraj Shahi 3, Kartik Sharma, Anup Walmiki) beat Bombay Republicans 4 (Venkatesh Devkar 3, Conroy Remedios).
UK United 5 (Devinder Walmiki 3, Yuvraj Walmiki 2) beat Mumbai Customs 3 (Moses Pulanthara 2, Jayesh Jadhav).