Vikram Pillay Academy wins Aga Khan hockey tourney

Vikram Pillay Academy was crowned champions of the 107th All India Aga Khan Hockey Tournament, edging out Bombay Engineers Group in a tense final played at the PCMC Polygrass Stadium, Chinchwad on Saturday.

VPA forward Yuvraj Walmiki, who has been in fine form throughout the tournament, opened the scoring in the 11th minute thanks to a pass from Prakash Ghumre. However, the one-goal lead was negated almost in no time thanks to a 14th-minute goal from Abung Singh. His teammate Premanand Singh provided the assist and Abung found the back of the net without a problem to draw BEG level.

However, Walmiki added another goal to his tally to seal the victory in the second half, with Allwyn Alexander setting him up in the 48th minute as VPA held on for the title.

In the junior division final, Kids XI beat Friends Union ‘B’ 4-2 on penalty strokes after the two sides played out a goalless draw.

Vivek Kale, Deepak Malai, Mahesh Rasal and Samuel Samson converted their shots for Kids XI, while from Friends Union only Sanjay Mahabdi and Mayur Thakur managed to find the net.