Amigos, Pune FC Women's Team take top honours at maiden seven-a-side Invitational Football Tournament

Amigos and Pune FC Women’s Team topped the Schools and the Open section respectively in the first ever Women’s Invitational Tournament conducted by Pune Football Club at the Maharashtriya Mandal Sports Complex in Mukundnagar on Sunday.

Coinciding with the first ever Asian Football Confederation Women’s Football Day, Pune FC’s seven-a-side tournament supported by Amura Marketing Technologies, attracted participation from 14 teams across two sections in and around Pune on the International Women’s Day.

Amigos, comprising of students from Camp area, came out on top in the Schools section with a 1-0 win over Erin Nosh Nagarvala School. On the other hand Pune FC's Women's team won the Open section beating Team Spicer in a penalty shootout by a 2-1 margin.

The participating teams in the school competition included Mercedes Benz International School, Azam School, Erin Nosh Nagarvala School, Podar International School, Symbiosis School, Abeda Inamdar School, The Bishop's School, Camp and Amigos. In the open section the six teams included, Automated Data Processing (ADP), Symantec, HDFC Bank Mumbai, SKF Sports Academy, Pune FC Women team and Team Spicer.

The final played between Amigos and Erin Nosh Nagarvala School in the Schools section was a close affair. The only goal of the game came in the beginning of the second half when Anna Pais intercepted a pass from the ENNS defender and took a low shot which bounced off the ENNS custodian into the goal. While they tried hard to come back from a goal down Amigos continued to press further and denied them the chance with the game ending 1-0 and Amigos winning the school competition section of the tournament.

The final between Spicer School and Pune FC in the Open Section was another closely contested game. The two teams had met in the qualifying rounds where a heated exchange and a very physical playing style from Spicer had given Pune FC a hard fought 2-0 win over them. However, the big final ended goalless with both sides failing to net in in regulation time.

After a long penalty shootout, Pune FC finally emerged victorious 2-1 with goals from Shweta Borude and Ayesha Alvares. Meanwhile, Lalnunthari scored the only goal for Team Spicer.

The winners and runners up were handed trophies by Pune FC Women’s Coach Kalpana Dass along with gift vouchers from Malaka Spice apart from exclusive Club merchandise.

Player of the Tournament, Schools: Kajal Valmiki (ENNS)

Player of the Tournament, Open: Senorita Nongpluh (Team Spicer)

RESULTS

Schools Section, Final

Amigos: 1 (Anna Pais) b ENNS: 0

Semifinals

Amigos: 3 (Aishwarya Gadekar, Khusi Kawathekar 2) b Mercedes Benz International School: 0

ENNS: 0 (2) (Kajal Walmiki, Vaishnavi Salunkhe) b Abeda Inamdar: 0 (1) (Sania Shaikh) via tie breaker

Open Section, Final

Pune FC: 0 (2) (Ayesha Alvares, Shweta Borude) b Team Spicer: 0 (1) (Lalnunthari) via tie breaker

Semifinals

Pune FC WT: 3 (Rutuja Gunawant, Darshana Sanas, Manisha Bavdankar) b ADP: 0

Team Spicer: 3 (Senorita Nongpluh 2, Freesia Nongpluh) b HDFC, Mumbai: 1 (Archana Sharma)