Pune FC Soccer Schools put on an excellent show at the recently concluded SANJ Memorial 5-a-side Football Tournament at Chondhe Patil Sports Complex Football Turf in Pimpale Nilakh.
Three Pune FC Soccer Schools’ teams from two different centres - two from Mamurdi and one from Freekick - participated across three different age groups in the competition held over the past four days.
The best performance among all came from the Under-12 team from the Mamurdi centre who emerged victorious in their section. The youngsters clinched the title after a thrilling 3-2 sudden death win over Spicer Memorial High School ‘A’ in the showpiece final. Earlier in the competition, they logged big wins over SKF Sports Education Programme ‘B’ (9-1, Quarterfinal) and Spicer Memorial High School ‘B’ (7-2, Semifinal).
The trophy was Under-12’s second piece of silverware this season after finishing runners-up in the Umbro presents ‘The Cup’ back in October.
U12 Winners: Pune FC Soccer Schools - Mamurdi Centre
Meanwhile, the Freekick centre participated in the Under-10 section and began their campaign with back-to-back wins over SPJ Club (4-0, Quarterfinal) and Spicer Memorial High School ‘A’ (2-0, Semifinal) to cruise into the final. The youngsters fought hard in the big game but fell just short and finished as runners up after a 1-3 loss to Spicer Memorial High School ‘B’.
U10 Runners Up: Pune FC Soccer Schools - Freekick Centre
Mamurdi centre’s second team participated in the Under-14 section, but had a tough run going down fighting 0-3 to Planet M in the quarterfinals.
Nonetheless, Pune FC’s consistent efforts at Grassroots development were evident as Freekick - Pune FC Soccer Schools’ Rishabh Shindore and Arin Deshmukh lit up the Under-10 section with their on-field performances bagging the ‘Best Goalkeeper’ and the ‘Best Player’ awards respectively.
Under-10, Best Player: Arin Deshmukh
Under-10, Best Goalkeeper: Rishabh Shindore
Furthermore, Pune FC’s partners SKF Sports -Education Programme also fielded two teams in the Under-12 section. While SKF ‘B’ ended their campaign in the quarterfinals after a loss to Pune FC SS, SKF ‘A’ won their quarterfinal against Chondhe Patil Sports Academy 3-1 before going down to Spicer Memorial High School ‘A’ in the semifinals.
RESULTS, Pune FC Soccer Schools
Under-10 (Freekick Center)
F: Pune FC SS 1-3 Spicer Memorial HS ‘B’
Goalscorer: Ayush Khatanhar
SF: Pune FC SS 2-0 Spicer Memorial HS ‘A’
Goalscorers: Ayush Khatanhar, Ahaan Dekhane
QF: Pune FC SS 4-0 SPJ Club
Goalscorer: Ahaan Dekhane 4
Under-12 (Mamurdi Center)
F: Pune FC SS 1(2)-1(1) Spicer Memorial HS ‘A’ via tie-breaker
Goalscorers: Stephen Chiru (In tie-breaker: Stephen Chiru, Vedant Shinde)
SF: Pune FC SS 7-0 Spicer Memorial HS ‘B’
Goalscorers: Stephen Chiru 5, Mihir Sawai 2
QF: Pune FC SS 9-1 SKF Sports ‘B’
Goalscorers: Mihir Sawai 3, Stephen Chiru 3, Varad Yadav, Abhinav Abraham, Vedant Shinde
Under-14 (Mamurdi Center)
QF: Pune FC SS 0-3 Planet M
RESULTS, SKF Sports Education Programme
Under-12
SF: SKF Sports ‘A’ 0-4 Spicer Memorial HS ‘A’
QF: SKF Sports ‘A’ 3-1 Chondhe Patil Sports Academy
Goalscorers: Rohit Shelar, Aniket Gunjal, Imran Sheikh
QF: SKF Sports ‘B’ 1-9 Pune FC SS
Goalscorer: Rahul Kharat
The Teams
Pune FC SS Under-10: Arin Deshmukh, Aaron Aigner, Arjun Limaye, Ahaan Dekhane, Ayush Khatanhar, Rishabh Shindore, Aarth Salgia
Pune FC SS Under-12: Mihir Sawai, Stephen Chiru, Varad Yadav, Abhinav Abraham, Vedant Shinde, Snehil Kumar, Ashwin Nair
Pune FC SS Under-14: Soumya Patil, Yash Muthanna, Shubhan Kaslay, Akanksh Saxena, Atharva Rhayakar, Rachit Singh, Arjun Menon, Gaurav Randhave
SKF Sports ‘A’: Shahidhusan Shaikh, Imran Shekh, Aakib Ansari, Aniket Gunjal, Rohit Shelar, Chetan Sawant, Akhlakh
SKF Sports ‘B’: Ambarish Kale, Arbhaj Mujavar, Arjun Bhalerao, Narayan Giri, Rohit Shinde, Harshad Mutkule, Rahul Kharaj
