Mumbai: Union Bank of India paid the penalty as they wasted two penalty strokes in normal play and went onto suffer 7-8 (sudden death) defeat at the hands of a spirited and determined Coorg Sports Club , in a men’s open semi-final, in the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana’s 38th Victor D’Mello memorial invitational rink hockey, at the Gymkhana’s floodlit tennis courts. The teams were locked 1-1 in the regular time.
Prince Chaurasia scored in the very second minute to give Union Bank an early lead. But, they were unable to consolidate their advantage as they failed to convert from two penalties in either half. First, Anand Rai’s high scoop was brilliantly saved by an agile Coorg goalkeeper Prateik Solanki who showed good anticipation and palmed the ball away. In the second period, Union Bank earned another penalty and this time Chaurasia in an attempt to beat Prateik pushed into the framework.
The Coorg outfit having survived those two left-offs came back strongly and put pressure on the Union Bank. They showed more urgency in their approach and their efforts were rewarded at the when Somanna BP deflected home following a move down the right to draw level and force the tie-breaker.
The stalemate continued in the tie-breaker duel which finished at 4-4 and the sudden death also witnessed tense moments as the scores remained 7-7, before Chaurasia pushed out and Machaiah PB successfully converted to score the crucial goal to secure Coorg’s victory and a passage to the final.
Results (Sfs)
Women: Central Railway: 4 (R Yadav 2, Ranjita S, P Dubey) bt Freunds Blue 1 (R Shaikh); Bombay Republicans: 8 (R Mullick 4, C Devi 2, C Gawade, Jaswinder K) bt Freunds Red 0. Men: Bombay Republicans: 5 (D Gaokar 2, V Devkar 2, B Batala) bt Ave Maria SC: 3 (V Simon 2, G Pimpale); Coorg SC: 8 (Somanna BP 4, Machaiah PB, 3, U Mokshit) bt Union Bank of India: 7 (P Chaurasia 3, S Shahi 3, K Sharma). Veteran: Hockey Dadar: 2 (N Pimenta, S Fernandes) bt Hockey Kalina 1 (D Kumar); Rebels SC: 6 (M Murthy 2, A Solomon, M Vishwanathan, G Esteves, Troy D’Mello) bt Savio Club ‘A’, Andheri: 1 (Peter Fernandes).