Pune, June 25
Central Railway, Pune fought off a fighting Food Corporation of India, Pune 6-5 to log full points in a Hockey Pune League 2024-25 Senior Division encounter, conducted under the aegis of Hockey Maharashtra, at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium, Nehrunagar-Pimpri on Tuesday.
In the last match of the day, Food Corporation of India (FCI) opened the scoring when Raj Patil (13th) scored to make it 1-0. Thereafter, Central Railway scored thrice via Vishal Pillay (25th - p.c), Prajwal Morkar (28th - p.c) and Stephan Swami (30th) to go up 3-1. FCI netted twice thereafter, Akash Pawar (31st), Manpreet Singh (33rd) to level the score 3-3. Central Railway then took over netting three in a row Aniket Mutthiya (36th), Vishal Pillay (41st) and Stephan Swami (36th) and lead the score 6-3. Pushing hard FCI reduced the margin through Ajay Naidu (48th - p.c), Akash Pawar (49th) but fell short at 6-5 in the final scoreline. In the Junior Division, Hockey Lovers Academy downed PCMC Academy 5-1, while Hockey Lovers Sports Club registered an 11-0 victory over Pune Magicians. Junior Division Pool-A: Hockey Lovers Academy: 5 (Sahil Sapkal 3rd; Sangram Polekar 14th; Ketan Bhamne 32nd; Amit Rajput 43rd; Nirmal Saini 51st) beat PCMC Academy: 1 (Numair Shaikh 53rd). HT: 2-0 Pool-B: Hockey Lovers Sports Club: 11 (Akash Belitkar 8th - p.c, 11th, 40th, 49th; Siddharth Nimkar 23rd; Hitesh Kalyana 41st, 45th - p.c, 51st, 55th; Himanshu Garsund 58th- p.c; Hrishikesh Batellu 59th) beat Pune Magicians: 0. HT: 3-0 Senior Division: Central Railway, Pune: 6 (Vishal Pillay 25th - p.c, 41st - p.c; Prajwal Morkar 28th - p.c; Stephan Swami 30th, 46th - p.c; Aniket Mutthiya 36th) beat Food Corporation of India, Pune: 5 (Raj Patil 13th; Akash Pawar 31st, 49th; Manpreet Singh 33rd - p.c; Ajay Naidu 48th - p.c). HT: 3-0.