PANJIM, SEPT 27
Friends Sporting Club, Carambolim won the first Sunshine League Cup defeating Dhulapi Sports CIub, CorIim 4-1 via tie-breaker organized by Sunshine Sports Club, Carambolim from August 15 to September 26 at Carambolim Panchayat ground, on Sunday.
Friends held an upper hand and dominated the match only to be denied victory by Dhulapi goalkeeper Ritesh Naik who affected splendid saves twice off Nitish Mistry and Frankie Mascarenhas. Friends Keeper was hardly tested with some superb defending by Friends captain Benzy Gonsalves and Sahil Balpravesh. Melwyn Pereira, Gourish Vaigankar and Bosco Gonsalves excelled in midfield for Friends. In the tie-breaker Sahil Balpravesh, Gourish Vaigankar, Frankie Mascarenhas and Bosco Gonsalves converted for Friends while only Lavesh Dhulapkar was on target for Dhulapi. Sagar Dhulapkar and Kishen Dhulapkar shot wide for Dhulapi.
Earlier, in the semi-finals, Friends Sporting defeated Small Boys Club, Carambolim with a brace from Frankie Mascarenhas. Dhulapi S.C. defeated SAI-PDA by 3-1 margin. Bhandas Dhulapkar(2) and Lavesh Dhulapkar scored for Dhulapi. The finals was well supervised by Diniz D’Costa.
In all, 16 teams participated. Wilson Valadares, ex-sarpanch was the chief guest while Sameer Volvoikar, ex vice-chairman of Kadamba Transport Corp. and Smita Naik, deputy sarpanch were the guest of honours. Dinesh Usgaonkar, president of the club and Narayan, secretary welcomed.
Friends were awarded Rs. 6,000 plus a trophy while Dhulapi SC had to be content with Rs. 4,000. Following individual prizes were awarded: Best goalkeeper: Ritesh Naik of Dhulapi SC. Best player of the match: Sai Dhulapkar of Dhulapi SC. First hat-trick of the tourney: Sameer Bomkar of RSC. Best disciplined team: Sunshine Sports Club (Blue) and best veteran player: Diniz D’Costa of Sunshine Sports Club.
