Bahrain : Wanderers Qatar Wins Six-a- side Hockey Championship
by Sherwin Sydelle D'souza
Bahrain, May 13: An unmatched hockey festival atmosphere was created last weekend by the Bahrain Hockey Association at 1st Bahrain 6 a side open Field Hockey Tournament. Featuring teams from the GCC, the hockey festival set up which was undoubtedly the one of the most competitive finals to have been witnessed between the The Wanderers Hockey Qatar and the Kuwait Independents Hockey (Blue)
The Wanderers Hockey Qatar won the 1st Bahrain 6 a Side Open Field Hockey Tournament by beating the Kuwait Independents Hockey (Blue) 3 – 2. Earlier, the Doha outfit beat The Incredibles Bahrain and the Kuwaiti team beat the Bahrain Hawks to set up the spectacular Men’s final.
Spearheaded by ex India national junior player, Savio Nayak and Ex Maratha Warriors of the Indian Premier Hockey League and Most Valuable Player of the tournament, Juned Countinho, the Wanderers piled on the pressure on the Kuwaitis which were well matched by their inspirational line up of ex Amboli United / Blasian Boys player Sherwin D’souza and Ex - Sports Authority Andhra Pradesh centre half Mastan Sheikh. With great pressure from Bruno Trinidad and Ignatius D’souza stepping up from our defence made it impossible for the Qataris to score in the 2nd half. However, the end result turned out in favour of the Qataris after a hard fought out competition.
The Chief Guest of the tournament, Ajay Kumar, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of India commended on the teams for keeping the spirit of hockey alive in the Gulf, before presenting the Wanderers with the winner’s trophy.
The mixed and ladies categories were claimed by the Bahrain Hawks with dazzling stick work produced the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament (Women) – Danni Shepard.
The Fair play trophy was awarded to the Kuwait Independents Hockey (Gold Team) while the Best Young player of the tournament went to George Axtell.
BHA President, Garner Vaz, said ‘The event has been hugely successful for the Bahrain Hockey Association through high levels of organisation by our experienced team. The response and feedback received from participating teams has been overwhelming. We are already working on new tournament plans and this will be revealed very soon. We are extremely appreciative of our supporters and partners viz. Spectrum Advertising, BMI, Clay Oven, Coca Cola, Champs, Gulf Weekly , Radio Voice, Design Grafix , Writer Relocations and Asta Neon who helped us organise this hockey extravaganza.’
For details and updates on upcoming hockey developments, please email KIH on kihockey@hotmail.com or contact Mr. Nicholas Reveredo on 97297599 or Sherwin D’souza on 97202757