PANAJI: Friends Sporting Club, Carambolim won the first Sunshine League Cup football tournament, organised by Sunshine Sports Club, Carambolim at Carambolim panchayat grounds, Carambolim on Sunday.

In the finals, Friends Sporting defeated Dhulapi Sports Club, Colrim 4-1 via the tie-breaker after both teams were tied in a goalless draw at full time, where Friends held an upper hand and dominated the match only to be denied victory by Dhulapi goalkeeper Ritesh Naik who affected splendid saves twice off Nitsh Mistry and Frankie
Mascarenhas.

Friends keeper was hardly tested after some superb defending by Friends captain Benzy Gonsalves and Sahil Balpravesh. Melwyn Pereira, Gourish Vaigankar and Bosco Gonsalves excelled in midfield for Friends.

In the tie-breaker, Sahil Balpravesh, Gourish Vaigankar, Frankie Mascarenhas and Bosco Gonsalves converted for Friends while only Lavesh Dhulapkar was on target for Dhulapi SC. Sagar Dhulapkar and Kishen Dhulapkar shot wide for Dhulapi.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Friends Sporting defeated Small Boys Club, Carambolim with a brace from Frankie Mascarenhas. Dhulapi SC defeated SAI-PDA by 3-1 margin. Bhandas Dhulapkar (2) and Lavesh Dhulapkar scored for Dhulapi. The finals match was well supervised by Diniz D’Costa.

Wilson Valadares, Ex-Sarpanch, was the chief guest while Sameer Volvoikar, ex-vice chairman of Kadamba Transport Corporation and Ms Smita Naik, Deputy Sarpanch of Carambolim were the guests of honour.

Mr Dinesh Usgaonkar, president of Sunshine Club and Mr Narayan, secretary welcomed the guests.

Winners were awarded a cash prize of ` 6,000 plus trophy while the runners-up had to be content with ` 4,000. Following prizes were awarded: Best goalkeeper: Ritesh Naik of Dhulapi Sports Club. Best player of the match: Sai Dhulapkar of Dhulapi SC. First hat-trick of the tourney: Sameer Bomkar of RSC. Best disciplined team: Sunshine Sports Club (Blue). Best veteran player: Diniz D’Costa of Sunshine Sports Club.