Prince Chaurasiya’s double strikes enabled fancied Union Bank of India stave off a strong challenge from Ave Maria SC and go on to snatch a thrilling and high-scoring 5-4 win in a Men Open match, for the Victor D’Mello Memorial Trophy, in the 41st Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana rink hockey tournament, played at the WCG floodlit courts.
The opportunistic goal-scorer Chaurasiya received good support from teammates Ganesh Patil, Suraj Shahi, and Vinod Saini all chipping with a goal apiece to secure Union Bank’s victory. Ave Maria who fought till the end managed to get their goals through a brace from Girish Pimpale and one each from Stanley Fernandes and Vikram Singh.
Meanwhile, Kingsley Rebello was in terrific scoring form and hit a six in leading Kalina Village Boys ‘A’ to a convincing 7-1 win against hosts Wellingdon Catholic Gymkhana (WCG) in a Veteran Men’s encounter. Samir Coutinho added the seventh goal while international John Fernandes scored WCG’s consolation goal.
In another veteran’s match, Olympian Gavin Ferreira scored the lone winning goal as Mumbai Raje White got the better of Ave Maria SC 1-0.
Men: Kalina Village Boys ‘A’ 7 (Kingsley Rebello 6, Samir Coutinho) beat Wellingdon Catholic Gymkhana 1 (John Fernandes); Mumbai Raje White 1 (Gavin Ferreira) beat Ave Maria SC 0.
Men Open: Union Bank of India 5 (Prince Chaurasiya 2, Ganesh Patil, Suraj Shahi, Vinod Saini) beat Ave Maria SC 4 (Girish Pimpale 2, Stanley Fernandes, Vikram Singh); CTC SC 4 (Devinder Walmiki, Abharan Sudev, Manpreet Singh, Darshan Gawkar) beat Customs Red 3 (Alden D’Douza 2, Lokesh Rana).
