NAGPUR City Police’s Azhar Shaikh and Arjun Yadav found the back of the net twice each as they beat fierce rivals and hosts Mumbai City Police 4-3 in a thriller to win the football championship at the prestigious 36th Maharashtra State Police Sports Meet in Mumbai, recently. In the high scoring summit clash, Mumbai kept control of the first half as they scored in the 15th minute. Nagpur policemen made continuous efforts but the half-time score stood at 1-0 for Mumbai. Mumbai opened the second-half with another goal to double their lead 2-0. Despite trailing by two goals, Nagpur Police did not give up. In the final minutes, Arjun slammed one past Mumbai goalkeeper to add the first goal for Nagpur (2-1). But a few minutes later, Mumbai scored their third goal, making the score 3–1. Nagpur coach Nitin Warthi brought in Amol Apturkar.

 

Amol’s entry added tremendous sharpness to the team’s attack. Nagpur skipper Azhar scored off a magnificent pass from Amol, narrowing the scoreline to 3–2. In the 87th minute, Arjun scored again with a superb header off a pass from Abdul Akeel to level scores 3-3 just before full-time. During extra time, Nagpur City Police maintained relentless pressure and in the 118th minute, Azhar dribbled past four defenders to score a spectacular goal, securing a historic 4–3 victory for the visitors. Earlier in their first match, Nagpur thrashed Pune City Police 4-0 while in the last-four clash, they blanked Kholhapur City Police 2-0 to storm into the final. Team: Azhar Shaikh (C), Chetan Dhavdhariya (GK), Mangesh Gadkari, Shahanawaz Mirza, Shubham Bongiri, Suraj Bejani, Abdul Akeel, Arjun Yadav, Naim Ashraf Ali, Rupesh Atram, Yash Dhurve, Tausif Ansari, Amol Apturkar, Sameer Khan, Pratik Jumnake, Mudassir Khan, Eric Mali, Selvis Peter and Mohsin Khan.