4th Edition of Hindu Hruday Samrat Chashak Rink Football Tournament: A-United Crowned Champions.

by Pushpak Shirwadkar December 8, 2016

4th Edition of Hindu Hruday Samrat Chashak Rink Football Tournament kicked-off on Saturday, 3^rd December 2016. The two-day long tournament constituted of 24 Boys Teams and for the first time, in the tournament’s short history, 10 Girls Teams.

A total of 12 teams came through from Round 1: Powai FC, CITI Boyz, FFC (A), UK United, Gladiators FC, Team United, Monster Boys, KNFC (A), Maccabi Tel Aviv, A-United, Saki Village FC and Kaswa. These teams were divided into two groups of six teams:

Note: the teams highlighted in bold qualified for Quarter Final stage

Group A

In the first match of Group A, Powai FC featured against CITI Boyz. The hosts dominated from the start, scoring two early goals in the 1^st and 4^th minute of the match through Mahir. A goal from CITI Boyz’s Aniket on 8 minutes brought the visitors back in the game. But Mahir’s third goal to complete his hat-trick restored Powai FC’s two-goal advantage, as they saw the game through comfortably.

A marginal one-goal win for FFC against UK United marked their qualification into the quarter-finals. UK United might blame themselves for their elimination, as an own goal by them proved to be the difference between the two sides at full time. Team United secured qualification courtesy of a 2-0 win over Gladiators; Ishan opened the scoring for Team United as Khushwant’s strike in the 17^th minute, put the team in the comfort zone.

Group B

KNFC fetched a goal four minutes from time, as Ashfaque found the back of the net on 16 minutes to help him team get over the line against Monster Boys. In the second match, Maccabi Tel Aviv suffered a shock defeat to eventual winners A-United, losing 3-1 on penalties; as neither were able to break the deadlock in normal time. Saki Village FC received a walkover against Kaswa in the final group B match.

Quarter Finals

According to tournament’s rules, the six teams qualified will face each other in a direct knock-out format, and the side with the highest winning margin qualifies for the final, automatically. The remaining two teams will play in a semi-final to decide, who progresses into the final.

KNFC and Powai FC played the match with great intensity, as both sides concluded at honors even. On penalties, KNFC edged past Powai FC 3-2, qualifying for the semi-final against A-United.

Apurva’s strike in the 12^th minute of the game proved enough for A-United to progress into the semi-final against KNFC as they defeated FFC in the quarter-final phase. Saki Naka attained automatic qualification into the final; as three goals from Gaurav, Thapa and Sagar helped secure qualification against Team United with the biggest win margin (3-0) of the round.

In the semifinal, a reversal of fortune for KNFC meant, chances of the side’s progression into the final was washed out as they suffered a 3-2 loss on penalties to A-United.

The final between Saki Village FC and A-United was yet another closely knit final, as it concluded is classic fashion – 1-0. Himanshu Patil managed to be his side’s talisman breaking the suspense on 15 minutes.

Individual Honors:

Best Play of the Tournament:  Srikanth Mallu from A-United

Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Sairaj Naidu from A-United