Don Bosco Oratory- Kuwait wins the Young Goans Hockey Tournament – Bahrain
Kuwait: Don Bosco Oratory – Kuwait and Saudi Strikers -Saudia Arabia entered the Finals of the 3rd edition Hockey tournament organized by “The Young Goans Club- Bahrain”.
The tournament commenced at 9:00 am with two pools.
Pool “A” considered as the pool of death with all the favorites teams were lined up in that group.
Don Bosco Oratory topped the group followed by Saudi Strikers in the second spot.
Pool “A” (Don Bosco Oratory) winners played with Pool “B” (Young Stars) Runners-up while Pool “A” (Saudi Strikers) Runners-up played with Pool “B” (Hungry Hamours) winners.
Both teams winning in their respective pool and knock out stages, were well-deserved teams to play in the finals after playing 7 games each the entire day. “Saudi Strikers- Saudia Arabia” was the defending champions and was the strong contenders of winning the tournament this year too.
The games were played top standard Rink Hockey by all the teams, with the intensity level very high. Both finalists played attacking hockey from the start of the tournament.
Speaking to Mr. Rebello a spectator from Bahrain said, “Saudi Strikers were no match for Don Bosco Oratory; the lads simply are too good namely Savio, Rana and Jayesh who showed some great skills, it was good entertainment and we all love it.”
Best player was awarded to Jayesh Balaram who played composure and sportsmanship during the entire tournament. The top goal scorer was Savio Nayak a player with a class of his own
Rana Yashpal Singh was exceptional with his stick and short sprints doing the backlines and deflecting the ball.
Jayan Lewis was exceptional in the goal and maintained a good record that DBO Kuwait the only team conceding the least number of goals during the entire tournament.
Our star defenders stood tall and flawless were Sherwin D’souza, Garner Vaz and Snedden Mendes who could not play the finals due to severe hamstring injury in the semifinals. Opponents found it difficult and the supporters named them “The Great Wall of Don Bosco Oratory”.
Alvon Martin and Gareth Mascarenhas were the duo that made it close to impossible for the opponents’ halves and defense to make any good attacks or distribution.
One spectator who would not like to be named as being a part of the organizing committee said “This year the matches played were the best I have seen in years, and this team DBO has made a mark in Bahrain with a lot of supporters and winning the Finals with a glorious victory.
Don Bosco Oratory hockey team, were honored to have their President Fr. Francisco Pereira –sdb who was present for the entire evening, standing in the sidelines supporting the team. A sportsman himself knows the sport well, shared his wisdom with the team….”It has to be a team playing not individual” and that is what the DBO team has done, played as one unit.
Speaking to the Sherwin Dsouza “The tournament was well organized there are few points that I have shared with the organizers and hoping they do consider it next year. Otherwise, I am happy with the team, man our body so soar playing from the morning is not easy at this age” he went to say that “The crowd support we got in Bahrain was amazing and that is what kept the team going and in return, we entertained with some good skillful hockey”.
