Mumbai, February, 26: A goal in the dying minutes by Shashi Topno helped Mumbai edge their State counterparts from across the ghats, Maharashtra by a 3-2 margin and claim the Zatopek Trophy, the symbol of supremacy among the two teams. Incidentally, the annual event was revived after a lapse of eight years.
The trophy was instituted in 1955 when film artist Pran donated the trophy to the erstwhile Bombay Provincial Hockey Association to conduct the event on an annual basis. Played on the eve of the Hockey World Cup in Delhi, the Mumbai Hockey Association utilized the opportunity to felicitate Onkar Singh, a member of the Indian team that triumphed in the 1975 edition of the World Cup at Kuala Lumpur. He was presented a motorbike as a token of appreciation towards his services to the game by Municipal Corporator Adv.Ashish Shelar and Mangha Singh Bakshi, President, MHA.
For the record, the visitors made a good start by going ahead in the seventh minute through international Vinod Pillai who slammed in their first penalty corner. The ball was deflected via a defender which caught Mumbai keeper Sudhir Dixit on the wrong foot. The lead was doubled by Rahul Devkar from a penalty stroke.
Mumbai’s Amit Gowda conceded the stroke when he pulled down Santosh Musale in the circle. Mumbai huffed and puffed till then but came back in the match in the 20th minute through a similar conversion. Yuvraj Walmiki beat the tall rival keeper Avdhut Solankar with a powerful flick. Encouraged by this they levelled five minutes later through Karan Thakur.
He banged in his team’s fourth penalty corner. Mumbai dominated thereafter but were rewarded more by an accident than design. It was Yuvraj Walmiki who chased a ball deflected by a rival defender, wove his way from the goalline and laid a superb minus ball for Shashi to capitalize on his second attempt.