MUMBAI, April 28: A last-minute strike by C Mall enabled BEST to get past a stubborn Village Amboli, 1-0, in a first-round encounter of the Bombay Hockey Association-conducted Bhivandiwala tournament for third and fourth divisions at the Mahindra Stadium, today.Village Amboli, having veteran playmaker Everest Gonsalves a former Mahindra half-back on their side, drilled a fine opening in the 52nd minute. Everest's hard push from the top of the cirlce to 14-year-old Cyrus Krishnamurthy saw the latter fail to intercept when ideally placed. In the last minute, when it looked as though the match would be decided by the tie-breaker, the Amboli defenders' lapse in the circle was capitalised on neatly by C Mall.In the other match of the day, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre failed to turn up for their tie against Vasai Eskimos.MSP, RCF in semis: Maharashtra State Police (MSP) defeated Central Railway Mumbai Division 2-1 in the third Guru Nanak Devji hockey tournament at the Khalsa College ground,Matunga, today. Skipper Prakash Sapkal gave MSP the lead .Central fought back and succeeded in restoring parity through Yogesh Muthayya. K V Gaikwad scored the match-winner for MSP.In the other quarter-final tie, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers beat Young Sports 2-0. S Megraj, who represented Mumbai in the last Nationals at Bangalore, netted both the goals for RCF.Sanjay, Santhose shine: Six goals by Sanjay Halder was the highlight of Bengal's 10-0 rout of Maharashtra in the quarter-finals of the ninth National football championship for the deaf at the Cooperage, today. Zamir scored a brace. Santhose Kumar Singh netted five in a row for Bihar against Karnataka. Bihar won 8-0 with Satish Kumar scoring a brace.In the other quarter-finals, holders Kerala bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 in a well-contested game and Delhi beat TCAD Hyderabad 5-0.In the junior boys group, Kerala outplayed TCAD-Hyderabad 9-0 with N J Francis and P B Xavier scoring three goals each.
