MUMBAI, MAY 24: Central Bank of India and Fr Agnel Gymkhana scored fluent triumphs on their way to the quarter-finals of the second Thane District Hockey Championship at the Machine Prototype Factory (MPF) ground, Ambernath, on Wednesday.With little resistance coming from Republicans, the bankmen scored at regular intervals and were two-up at the interval. Gilbert Bothello and Rommell Pereira found the target for CBI in the 11th and 21st minutes, respectively.Rommell added another goal after the breather in the 48th minute and Ninson Mangalnath completed the tally three minutes later.Fr Agnel's were stunned by an early reverse when S Giri put HOC ahead in the fourth minute, following a swift move. But HOC's joy was short-lived as Fr Agnel found their rhythm by the end of the first quarter and equalised through Rego Menezes in the 20th minute. The goal signalled the beginning of a goal glut for Fr Agnel.The highlight of Fr Agnel's triumph was five goals by Anwar Ahmed. The other scorers were Hanuman Yedke and Sachin Thakur.Thakur bows outYogin Thakur came close to pulling off a stunning victory in the boys under-17 event at the Sportexcel Milo Squash Open in Ipoh last night, according to an SRAM release, here on Wednesday. The Team Mid-Day youngster had beaten top seed Kenneth Liew (Serewak) in the semi-finals but found Hansul Hashim a tough customer and went down 9-2, 9-6, 9-5 in the final.The scores do not reflect the way the match went with Thakur giving it his best shot. Playing four matches in the span of 48 hours, took its toll and the same happened with the other Mumbai juniors. Rachita Vora lost in the semi-finals of the girls under-17 event and eventually had to settle for fourth place.The two little ones, Ishaan Balwani and Shailee Shelke, were up against top juniors. Balwani was in the boys under-13 and after his four matches, was placed tenth. Shelke played in the girls under-13 where she finished ninth.The above quartet were in action at Ipoh, two and a half hours away from Kuala Lumpur. Another two hours down the road was the Pepsi Squash Complex at Penang where the under-15 and under-19 events of the Sportexcel Milo Open were played.Here, Manek Mathur, who had been put into the boys under-15 section, won one of his four matches. Mathur, who is 12-years-old, had been asked by coach KH Ong to play in a higher age-group and he had the satisfaction of being on court with some of the best youngsters in Malaysia.Natasha Lal took the first game against top seed June Tong but the Penang girl was too experienced and went on to win with a 3-1 scoreline. Lal won her next three matches and was placed ninth overall.Lal and Mathur had the chance of seeing World Junior champion Nicol David practicing at the Penang courts. The weekend events at Ipoh and Penang were very good experience for Team Mid-Day and the juniors returned wiser for their efforts.
