Pune: Prince Chourasiya and Romesh Pillay scored goals in the third quarter for Excellency Academy as they quelled the challenge posed by Krida Prabodhini to win the Friendship Cup hockey title at the Major Dhyan Chand Poligras Stadium in Nehrunagar on Wednesday.
After a barren first quarter both the teams tried to find gaps, but Excellency Academy held their brief against a strong Krida Prabodhini side and on changing the ends Prince found his mojo and drew the first blood in the first minute of the third quarter.
Four minutes later Romesh Pillay let loose and ran with the ball to yet again slot it home for Excellency as they went 2-0 up. Krida Prabodhini tried their best to find a goal to narrow the gap, but it was only four minutes from the close Rise Mujawar found the target.
Result:
Final: Excellency Academy 2 (Prince Chourasiya 31st, Romesh Pillay 35th) beat Krida Prabodhini 1 (Rise Mujawar 56th).
Individual awards:
Best goalkeeper: Rockson Bosco (Excellency Academy)
Best defender: Omkar Musle
(Aspat Academy)
Best midfielder: Yogesh Borkar (Krida Prabodhini)
Best forward: Vikram Singh
(Income Tax)
Player of the tournament: Romesh Pillay (Excellency Academy)
