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The Indian Club were crowned winners of the Spectrum Group 5-a-side Rink Hockey Tournament organised by the Bahrain Hockey Association.
Considered tournament favourites and playing with home ground advantage, the Indian Club led by talisman captain Avalon Martin, shook off a nervous start by comfortably beating the tournament's surprise outfit, Royal Challengers of Bahrain.
With a final score line of 9-3 , the Royal Challengers offered little resistance to the attacking style of the seasoned Indian Club players, despite a hat-trick by their mercurial forward and ex-Pakistan international, Zakir Khan and fullback, Charles Forward.
Adopting a total attacking style of hockey, the champions, who were backed by some of Bahrain's seasoned players such as Garner, Anthony, Alwyn, Victor and Eddie, displayed stunning rink hockey plays as veteran Cassius netted four goals to claim the winner's trophy.
Meanwhile, in a close encounter for the third place, the House of Travel Hungry Hamours beat newcomers The Daredevils on penalties (2-0) after a scoreless draw at the end of extra time.
Goalkeeper Anson Sequeira pulled off two magnificent saves to secure the advantage with penalty takers Kevin D'Cunha and James Carless converting two penalty strokes to clinch third place for the Hamours.
The Most Valuable Player of the Tournament went to Avalon Martin, skipper of the Indian Club, and Best Goalkeeper award went to newcomer sensation Jason D'Souza of The Daredevils.
Rana Khan, Charge D'Affairs of the Pakistani Embassy, praised the dedication of hockey players in Bahrain for keeping the sport alive and urged the community to get more involved in reviving the sport's standing in the kingdom.
Other guests included Fr Dinesh Mendonca, parish priest of the Sacred Heart Church, Bahrain, and Franklin Alby, managing director of main sponsors Spectrum Group. The tournament's co-sponsors included GulfWeekly, Radio Voice and 4 Shots Photography.
An open international tournament will be hosted in November, BHA president Garner Vaz announced during the prize-giving ceremony.
