Mumbai: Sparks FC scored a hard-fought 1-0 win against Football School of India in a keenly contested Women’s league final of the Rustomjee-MDFA League, at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra. Both the sides went on the offensive from the start, and they fought tooth and nail as they tried to gain the upper hand.
As a result was not much to separate between the two teams until the 44th minute, when Sparks impressive and attacking striker Sai Sankhe worked on her own and broke through the rival defence before firing home the decisive goal, which sealed Sparks victory and to emerge champions. Sparks’ goalkeeper Neha Samre also played a stellar role as she made some fine saves to ensure her citadel remained intact. Earlier in the India Rush defeated Future Stars SC by a 3-0 margin via the penalty shootout after teams failed to break the deadlock in the regular time.
Results
Third place: India Rush: 3 (Priya Sukhdev, Rachael D’Costa, Riya Sukhdev) bt Future Stars: 0 via the tie-breaker. Full-time : 0-0.
Final: Sparks FC: 1 (Sai Sankhe 44th) beat Football School of India 0.
Narrow win for AI
Hosts Air India SC (Western Region) clinchéd a close 4-run victory against Mumbai Fire Brigade in a second round match of the Air India Invitation T20 tournament organized by Air India Western Region and played at the Air India ground, Kalina on Monday. Air India managed to score 138 for the loss of five wickets. Diwakar Shetty (23) top scored for Air India. Later Air India bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals to restrict Mumbai Fire Brigade to 134 for nine wickets from the quota of 20 overs.
Brief scores
Mumbai Port Trust SC 99-7 (Harshal Jadhav 31, Omkar Tondey 26; Siddesh Pinge 2-25) bt NKGSB Co-Operative Bank Ltd. 78-9, in 15 overs (Harshal Jadhav 3-9, Bhausaheb Nechakar 2-12, Sudhir Komulekar 2-25) by 21 runs. MoM: Harshal Jadhav (MbPT).
Air India Sports Club (WR): 138-5 (Diwakar Shetty 23*) bt Mumbai Fire Brigade 134-9 (Harish Patil 36*; Ruchit Jani 2-13, Aditya Pandey 2-28, Abhishek Patil 2-28, BM Mudaliar 2-41) by 4 runs. MoM: Diwakar Shetty (Air India).
Lakshit in main draw
Punjab’s Lakshit Sood had to produce his best while beating Kunal Vazirani 7-6 (2), 7-5 to qualify for the men’s singles main draw of the Khar Gymkhana- All India men’s Ranking 5-lakh prize money Tennis Tournament-2019 hosted by Khar Gymkhana here on Monday.
The lad from Ludhiana(Punjab) overcame stiff challenge from gritty Kunal, who matched him stroke for stroke as the firs set went into tie-breaker, even in the second set it was a closer affair before Lakshit broke free to clinch the tie. Rohan Bhatia was taken the distance by Aditya Baklsekar before he prevailed at 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh’s Niki Poonacha has been given the pride of place in the men’s singles, followed by Tamil Nadu’s Mayur Mohite, Punjab’s Dalwinder Singh and Maharashtra’s Dhruv Sunish in that order.
Seedings: 1. Niki Poonacha (AP); 2. Mohit Mayur ; 3. Dalwinder Singh (PB); 4. Dhruv Sunish (Mah); 5. Jatin Dahiya (DL); 6. Ishaque Eqbal (WB); 7. Armaan Bhatia (MH); 8. Suresh Dhakshineswar (TN).
Results
Men’s (final qualifying round): Lakshit Sood bt Kunal Vazurani 7-6 (2), 7-5; Suhith Reddy bt RithwikRaman 6-2,6-4; Tejas Chaulkulkar bt Parishit Somani 5-1 (Con); Panay Devgarg bt Vashu Gupta 6-2,6-1; K S Dheeraj bt Shashank Macherla 6-4, 6-4; Rohan Bhatia bt Aditya Balsekar 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Rishab Agarwal bt Vidit Vagherla 6-1, 6-3; Chandril Sood bt Alok Aradhya 6-3, 6-1.
Darryl Crasto football
The Catholic Gymkhana will be conducting the Late Darryl Crasto Memorial Trophy Rink Football Tournament for men under floodlights at the Gymkhana’s newly laid artificial surface, Marine Drive from May 7-16. The tournament will be conducted under the auspices of the MDFA.
All the top Mumbai footballers will be representing their respective clubs in this tournament which will played on a knockout basis and all matches would be played in the evenings. Simultaneously the Catholic Gymkhana would also conducting a competition for women’s who will fight it out for the Late Dereyk DeSouza Memorial Trophy and a veterans men (abover 45 years) tournament for the Late Neville D’Souza Memorial Trophy. For more details and registration please contact – Sebastian D’Souza – 9664777185 or contact the Catholic Gymkhana office – 022 22813260.
MHAL selection trials
The Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) will be conducting trials to select the Mumbai sub-junior women hockey team for the forthcoming 9th Hockey India sub-junior National Hockey Championship to be held at Jaipur, Rajasthan from May 15 to 25, 2019. The selection process will be conducted at the MHAL Mahindra Stadium from tomorrow (Tuesday April 16) from 4.30 pm onwards. Players born on or after 1-1-2003 are eligible to participate in the selection trials. Interested players are requested to attend the selection trials with age proof certificate and playing kits.
Omkar, Madurai win
Exprienced cyclist Omkar Jadhav made his mark winning the the second Open title in the race the Indian Cycling League, here recently. As expected in the women’s section, Madurai Vaykar got the better of the team. Omkar had dominated the men’s 30-km race finishing the event with a time of 26; 29: 9 40 seconds. Niket Pais finished behind the champion, while Ayushy Pedur was third.
