PANAJI: The Goa hockey team on Monday made history by registering its first ever win in hockey, as they beat Himachal Pradesh by a solitary goal in the 63rd Senior National hockey championship organised by the Indian Hockey Federation in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

The lone goal was scored in the 67th minute by Mulla Ibrahim. Goa earned 5 penalty corners but failed to convert them into goals as their players lacked the experience of playing on Astro-turf. Nevertheless, the Goan boys led by Dattesh Priolkar won many hearts by their wonderful on-field performance.

With this result Goa finished their pool engagements with one win and one loss. Unfortunately the result was not enough for them to qualify for the quarter-finals as they lost their earlier match to the home team Bhopal on Sunday.

Speaking from Bhopal, Kapil Kohli, Goa hockey team coach said his boys played extremely well but he rued the missed chances saying that had his boys converted the missed chances into goals, his team would have won by a margin of at least 4 to 5 goals. He however had special praise for goalkeeper, Lincoln Taites, who pulled off
some brilliant saves.

President of Association for Control of Hockey in Goa (ACHG), Mr Sigmund de Souza and General Secretary Mr Anselm Gabriel congratulated the team for their praiseworthy outing in the national championship. From Mumbai, former India captain and coach Joaquim Carvalho also conveyed his congratulations to the team and the ACHG for Goa’s brilliant performance in the Senior Nationals.