Mapusa based Young Sports Hockey Club, a club affiliated with Goans Hockey, organised an All Goa Hockey 5s tournament for both girls and boys at St. Anthony High School, Duler on Sunday 24th February 2019. Despite exams looming around the corner, the tournament managed to attract a total of 12 Boys teams and 4 Girls teams to participate in the tournament. The Hockey 5s tournament was played as per the FIH rules and guidelines for Hockey 5s. Hockey 5s is a short format of the sport which is designed to enhance the reach of Hockey via a game which is fast, skilful and adaptable with a set of simplified rules. This shorter and faster version of the game has no goalkeeper and a goal can be scored from anywhere from the field of play.
The Boys teams were seeded in 4 groups of 3 teams each. The group topper progressed to the Cup Semi-Finals. The girls played on a league basis with the top 2 finishers battling it out in the Cup Finals. The first Boys Semi-Final was played between Young Sports Seniors and Majorda Hockey Club. Young Sports Seniors got the better of Majorda HC 2-1 with the all-important winning goal coming in the extra time of time after the match finished 1-1 at the end of regulation time. The second Semi-Final was played between Young Sports Juniors and Bastora Boys. Young Sports Juniors played an impressive game and showed good character on the field to get the better of an experienced Bastora Boys side 2-0 to progress to the Finals. In the Boys Cup Finals, the seniors and juniors of Young Sports Hockey Club battled it out with the Juniors thumping the Seniors 2-1 in an exciting fast paced finals. It was a great moment to witness the junior boys, who are all school students, play in a composed and mature manner to get the better of their much seasoned seniors. Govinda Lamani was deservingly awarded the player of the tournament for his fine performance and goal scoring for Young Sports HC Juniors. In the Girls Finals, Bastora Girls got the better of Indian Rangers with a score-line of 3-1. Bastora Girls controlled the match from the very beginning and created a lot of goal scoring opportunities. Maheshwari Haldankar was the top scorer for the Girls and was rightfully adjusted the best player of the tournament. The Hockey 5s tournament also became a good platform to honour the mentor of the hundreds of Hockey players in Goa, Mr. Alexander Remedios, Hockey Coach with DSYA for his timeless service to the sport of Hockey in Goa. Mr. Alexander is retiring from service on 28th February 2019 after providing 27 years of dedicated service to the sport. The tournament was ably supported by Mr. Vikas Arolkar, Businessman and Social worker from Mapusa and the Hockey Heritage Group Goa, a group of Hockey enthusiasts formed to preserve the rich heritage of Hockey in Goa and to further promote the sport to the younger generation. Yours Sincerely, Peter Fernandes Hon' Secretary Hockey Heritage Group Goa Goa, India Ph: +919075887875 FB: www.facebook.com/peter.goa "There is no limit to the greatness a person can achieve if it does not care who gets the credit"
