DAMMAM — International Indian School, Dammam (IISD) lifted the championship trophy of the first Federation Cup tournament, organized by Saudi Indian Hockey Forum (SIHF) and supported by Saudi Gazette, beating Dunes International School via a penalty shoot out at Al-Iteffaq Club here recently.
Five international schools participated in the senior league tournament. In the junior league, held earlier, Al-Muna International School lifted the trophy beating International Indian School, Jubail.
Five schools that participated in the senior league included Al Muna International School Dammam, Sunshine International School Dammam, International Indian School, Jubail, Dunes International School, Al Khobar and International Indian School Dammam.
The top two teams after the preliminary league matches were International Indian School, Dammam and Dunes International School, who battled for the championship trophy. Both sides played some very aggressive hockey but eventually IISD took the lead through their centerforward Khaja Ghayasuddin, who converted a sharp pass from captain Haadi. After the goal IISD increased the pressure but missed a couple of chances to consolidate.
Dunes School regrouped themselves with their spirited captain Mubashshir Mohammed Khan leading the way and launched counter attacks. The tactics paid dividends. After missing couple of chances Dunes scored the equalizer through right winger Adil Rana. After extra time both the teams stood at 1-1. In the tie breaker, however, IISD outshone Dunes and won the championship by 3-1. IISD goalkeeper Majid was the hero for IISD as he saved key penalty hits from Dunes school. Athar Hussain was the referee of the fast-paced finals.
Earlier, in the first match between Al Muna International School and Sunshine International School, Al Muna International School trounced Sunshine international School by margin of 9-0. Syed Ashfaq Hussain was referee of the match. Syed Tauheed, captain of Al Muna International School scored 4 goals while Imtiyaz and Rahil scored 2 goals each and one goal was scored by Shaikh Mustafa vice-captain of Al Muna International School.
In the second match between International Indian School Jubail and IISD, the latter defeated IIS Jubail 3-1. Suhaib Hussain (2) and Abdul Moid were the scorers.
In the third match between Dunes International School Al Khobar and Al Muna International School Dammam, Dunes edged out Al Muna by a solitary goal scored by their captain Mubashshir Mohammed Khan.
For third and fourth spots, the match was played between Al Muna International School and International Indian School Jubail. Due to shortage of time the match was decided via the tie breaker in which IIS Jubail saved 3 goals while Al-Muna could save only one.
Two Exhibition matches were played between CBSE School Principals and CBSE School Chairmen in which the Principals team emerged victorious by a 1-0 margin. The goal scored by Pervaiz Ahmed.
Abdul Waris, Tashkin Mohammed Akbar, Dr. Abdussalam, Abdullah Manjeri, Abdul Lateef, Mujeebur Rahman Kullur and Zaheer Beg played from the Chairmen team, while Principals team consisted of players like Dharminder Manon, Mamu Master, Lt. Gaurav Sharma, Irfan Waheed, Abdul Qader, Pervez Ahmed and Shaheryar Mohammed Khan.
Another match was played between Bhopal Blues and Bihar Riders in which Bhopal beat Bihar convincingly by a 3-1 margin.
