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Ambedkar hockey tournament in Pune: Income Tax’s attacking game stumps Vikram Pillay Academy
Five goals in first half helps Income Tax beat Vikram Pillay Academy A team 7-5
Vikram Pillay Academy A-team who is blessed with international players has failed to perform as per their reputation and went down 5-7 in the finals against Income Tax, Pune in the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hockey tournament, at Major Dhyan Chand hockey poligras stadium Nehru Nagar-Pimpri, on Sunday.
For Income Tax it was the 20-year-old Abhishek Nain who did the star act with scoring four goals (2nd, 19th, 22nd, 54th).
The other goal scorers for the team were Ashutosh Lingesh (4th), Pradeep Mor (27th) and Sanjay (44th).
“Today I got the rhythm right from the start and managed to score four goals for the team. Team co-ordination helped me a lot to score,” said Nain who has represented junior India hockey team.
Income Tax, Pune started the game aggressively and scored two goals in the first four minutes to put pressure on Vikram Pillay Academy.
“Conceding two goals in the first five minutes made a great impact to our team, Although we had experienced players, it unsettled our rhythm and things become harder for us,” said Yuvraj Walmiki, captain of Vikram Pillay Academy.
For Income Tax, every department was doing a great job and they kept the pressure on the opponent. The second quarter turned out to be best for them as they netted three goals to take a 5-1 lead.
After resumption, Vikram Pillay showed some good fight and scored goals from Darshan Ghumare (33rd), Prince Chourasia (40th) making it 5-3 but it was not enough as Income Tax, Pune added two more goals in the final quarter.
“After half time, the team showed fight but we couldn’t win the match. I am sure this defeat is a lesson to young players. Our goalkeeper will also learn a lot. Yesterday he was the hero for us but today he could not perform well. He will learn from such games,” added Yuvraj Walmiki.
Income Tax led by former Indian player Ajitesh Roy had all praise for his team, especially for the way they performed in front of the team who had players like Vikram Pillay, Vikas Pillay, Yuvraj Walmiki and Devendar Walmiki.
“I just tell my team to perform and not to think about the opponent because I believe in performance and it does not matter against whom we were playing,” said Roy.
Income Tax team had few injury issues and out of their 18 member squad, only 13 were fit for the selection. Young players from the team stood tall and delivered a good performance for the team.
“My aim was to keep pushing players to play well. I was giving them advice during the match as well,” added Roy.