Friends Union, SRPPF move in 2nd round of Bhide Memorial state level

Pune, Dec 9 (UNI) Friends Union and State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Group (one) posted their win in contrasting styles today on the opening day of the Fourth Avinash Bhide Memorial State Level Hockey tournament, being hosted by the Rakshak Sports Association, which got underway at the S P College ground here.

While Friends Union posted a facile 3-0 win over Goodwill Sports Club, SRPF earned a hard fought 2-1 win over Rovers Academy and moved into the second round.

Friends Union, who displayed better cohesion and understanding, dominated the proceedings but had to wait till the 20th minute to score through frontliner Amol Thakur, who capitalised a through pass by linkman Mukhtar Shaikh. Sailesh Sawant made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute after Shakti Thakur did the spade work.

The winners sealed the rivals fate in the 37th minute when Sandeep Chandare sounded the boards from Sagar Thakur's pass. Goodwill failed to score even a consolation goal.

Later, the hard-hitting SRPF forged ahead in the 26th minute via centre forward Ajay Uttekar, who made no mistake after Vinod. Some made the opening. They increased the lead in the 30th minute through inside left Satish Sawant, who connected a defence splitting pass from Sandeep Kalgude.

The rivals fought back and reduced the margin via Sachin Kamble who made no mistake with the penalty stroke award in 32nd minute.

Umpire Sikandar Jaffer pointed to the spot after SRPF defender Gajanan Patil stopped the goal-bound ball with his foot following an essay by Jagdish Kasture.

Earlier, Gulabrao Pol, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai and former Chhatrapati awardee, formally inaugurated the tournament.

Rakshak Sports Association secretary Yashowardhan Pawar welcomed the guests and also proposed a vote of thanks. Also graced the occasion were Maharashtra Hockey Association (MHA) joint secretary Ikram Khan and former Indian Hockey Association (IHF) assistant secretary Victor Ellis. S P Mandali, who runs the S P College, vice-president Sunil Radkar presided over the function.

UNI