Excellency Academy win the first edition of the Friendship Cup hockey with a 2-1 victory over Krida Prabodhini at the Major Dhyan-Chand Hockey Stadium, Pimpri on Wednesday.
It took half time of the aggressive game to get its first goal on board. Excellency took a lead in the 31st minute and the castle was broken by Prince Chourasiya with a well-coordinated partnership between Darshan Gawkar and Aniket Muthaya who assisted on the goal to put the lead 1-0.
Excellency Academy with their trophy after winning the first edition of the Friendship Cup hockey with a 2-1 victory over Krida Prabodhini at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium, Pimpri, on Wednesday. ( HT PHOTO )The goal fantasy from Excellency was repeated just after three minutes from the first goal, this time it was Ruben Kadari who cycled the ball from centre forward and passed it to Romesh Pillay, who gently scored the goal and helped his team to grip over the match with 2-0 in the 35th minute.
It was only Rise Mujawar at the 56th minute to score a goal for Krida Prabodhini. Despite getting a number of penalty corners in the last quarter, Krida Prabodhini couldn’t manage to score. They were defended well by Rokson Bosco, the goalkeeper of Excellency, who was announced as the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
A loud huuuuuu! sound weaved through the ground from spectators, when Krida’s Satish Patil was cycling from the right corner and smashed a hard hit on the ball, but ended up to get a rebound after hitting the ball on to the right pole of the nets. The short went a little faster and just missed by an inch, which could have saved the match for Krida.
More matches across Maharashtra
Manoj Bhore, honorary secretary, Hockey Maharashtra, said, “The Friendship Cup went very well and rings a bell for more tournaments in the city. Not only Pune, but we are planning such matches in April-May for entire Maharashtra.”
First Published: Mar 22, 2019 16:52 IST