After a hiatus of almost three years, big time hockey returned to the city of Mumbai. The Mumbai players who were starved of playing competitive hockey in the past couple of years will once again get an opportunity to showcase their skills and talent as the Mumbai Super League 2022-2023, organized by Hockey Mumbai City and Hockey Mumbai Suburbs, commenced at the Don Bosco High School Hockey Turf, Matunga on Sunday.
The captains of the seven participating teams pose with the glittering Super League ‘Champions’ trophy before the start of the first match at the Don Bosco High School astroturf, Matunga on Sunday.
The newly formed bodies, Hockey Mumbai City and Hockey Mumbai Suburbs, the governing bodies for the conduct of Hockey in Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburbs have come together to conduct the Hockey Mumbai Super League, under the aegis of Hockey Maharashtra the governing body for hockey in Maharashtra.
The last edition of the Mumbai Super League, organized by the MHAL, which is an unrecognized body, was played in 2019 with Indian Navy emerging champions.
This year a total of seven teams will be competing for the top honours on a round-robin league basis. The top four teams will qualify to play the semi-finals, and the winners will contest the final on June 4, which will decide the Champion team from Mumbai.
In the opening league match, CTC (Champions Training Centre) rallied to overcome Mumbai Customs 2-1 in an absorbing and well contested encounter. Joshua Vesaokar scored from a penlty corner to give Customs the lead in the second quarter and give his team a 1-0 half-time lead. But, CTC came roaring back on resumption and Rajat Sharma converted from a penalty corner to level the match scores at 1-all. CTC mounted pressure on the Customs citadel and Aditya Rasal with a superb reverse attempt sent the ball crashing to the roof of the net to help his team snatch a hard-fought win.
The participating teams: Mumbai Customs, Bombay Republicans, Western Railway, Central Railway, Sports Authority of India (SAI), Maharashtra State Police (MSP) and Champions Training Center (CTC).
Result: Champions Training Center 2 (Rajat Sharma, Aditya Rasal) beat Mumbai Customs (Joshua Vesaokar).