Khyal Sanjay Parmar (capt) Yash Narendra Morar (gk) Dilan Ajay Chauhan Kishan Ashvin Chauhan Sai Hitesh Chauhan

The results from the group stage were: Beat    LONDON 2 3-0 (Dilan 3) Beat LEICESTER 2   4-0   (Dilan 3, Khyal) Drew LEICESTER 1 1-1 (Kishan) Beat LEICESTER 3 5-0 (Dilan 2, Khyal 2, Kishan) Drew BIRMINGHAM 1-1 (Khyal)

The team progressed very smoothly to the final where it met Birmingham.
In a very entertaining and enthralling encounter, London took the lead with a wonderful individual goal by Khyal that was blasted into the top corner.
London were unfortunate not to extend their lead as they kept the Birmingham goalkeeper busy. As the match drew to a tense finish the defence of Kishan and Sai stood strong to the threat that Birmingham posed. Even a speculative long range effort from the half way line was expertly saved by Yash in goal.
With time running out and fingernails being bitten to the bone, Sai intercepted the goalkeeper's throw out and hit a long range effort that came off the back boarding but this time the rebound fell to Dilan who coolly slotted the ball into the corner making it 2-0.
It was too much for Birmingham to recover from and as the referee blew the final whistle, the celebrations began with a mini pitch invasion led by parents, supporters and fellow players.
The Winners trophy was presented to the captain Khyal by our vice president Somchand Parmar and each player also received an individual trophy

In addition, Dilan was awarded the Golden Boot for having scored the most goals of 9 in the under 12's competition.

Dilan was also given a very special accolade by the organisers of the competition.

Just when you thought it couldn't get better, it did ….
as the team were also presented with the 'Fair Play' Award.

Ajay Chauhan (capt) Jitu Chauhan (gk) Rakesh Chauhan Shailesh Solanki Sanjay Parmar Pradip Parmar

The results from the group stage were: Beat    LONDON 2 1-0 (Ajay) Beat LEICESTER 2   3-0   (Shailesh 2, Rakesh) Drew LEICESTER 1 0-0 Beat PRESTON 2-0 (Shailesh, Rakesh) Beat BIRMINGHAM 2-0 (Shailesh 2)

The team progressed as group winners to the final where it met Leicester 1.
In a very competitive and highly physical contest, the early moments of the match were dominated by some over exuberant challenges on Rakesh, the latter of which led to the Leicester defender receiving a yellow card. Nevertheless the teams continued to battle hard but the deadlock remained intact.
As the period of normal time drew ever closer and with the tension reaching fever pitch, London so very nearly clinched a winner, when Sanjay surged forward and crossed for Shailesh whose sweet first time shot was tipped over the bar by the Leicester goalkeeper.
The match went into extra time and with the penalty shoot out beckoning a powerful shot by the Leicester forward led to a stunning save by Jitu in goal.
The defence held firm by Ajay and some crunching tackles and Sanjay, who was also given the license to go forward at every opportunity to clinch that elusive winner.
However, the matched remained goal less and in true dramatic, Zee TV style, it went into a best of three penalty shoot-out.
Unfortunately for London, Ajay missed the first penalty and even though both Rakesh and Sanjay scored from their spot kicks it was all to no avail as Leicester scored with all their penalties. The victory was Leicester's 3-2 on penalties.

Amid the disappointment, there was some consolation for the team. Shailesh was awarded the Golden Boot for having scored the most goals of 5 in the over 40's competition.
The team should also be very proud of the record that they remained not only unbeaten in normal time in the competition but also that they conceded no goals in the entire competition.

Under 12's - Team 2

Vishal Umesh Chauhan (capt)

Prajesh Hitesh Chauhan (gk)

Dhrew Sanjay Parmar

Devan Vijay Bulsara

Shivam Hitesh Chauhan

Meeran Katten Chauhan

Under 12's - Team 2 did well having won 2 and drawn 2 of there group stage matches.

Under 16's

Aashish Somchand Parmar (capt)
Rohit Pradeep Chavda (gk)
Milan Deepak Patel
Neal Ashvin Chauhan
Neeraj Narendra Morar
Preyesh Satish Champaneri

The under 16's did well but despite finishing in the top four they just missed out on a final place.

Seniors - Team 1

Ashish Anil Pardiwalla (capt)
Vinay Balwant Chauhan (gk)
Hiren Jayantilal Chauhan
Nilesh Hasmukh Solanki
Nilesh Ramesh Chauhan
Nicky Chandrakant Chauhan

The Seniors - Team 1 reached the semi-finals, but a last minute goal by the opposition cruelly denied them a place in the Final.

Seniors - Team 2

Ketan Jayantilal Chauhan (capt)
Nishit Ramesh Solanki (gk)
Ritesh Pankaj Solanki
Amit Bhupendra Chauhan
Sanjeev Ramesh Oza

Seniors - Team 2 remained unbeaten, but too many draws cost them a place in the semi-final.

Over 40's - Team 2

Vijay Bulsara (capt)
Bharat Chauhan (gk)
Katten Chauhan
Deepak Patel
Hasu Parmar

The Over 40's - Team 2 did extremely well having won 3 of their 5 group matches, but this proved not quite enough as they just missed out on a final place in what would have proved a mouth watering contest against London 1.

Special Thanks
GAA London and the coaching staff of Kunal Chauhan, Rakesh Chauhan and Ajay Chauhan would like to thank all those mums and wives who made and provided food and refreshments on the day.

We would also like to thank Chandrakant & Chanda Chauhan and Bharat & Mina Chauhan who made donations covering the purchase of the light refreshments.

A huge thank you should also go out to all our supporters who attended on the day. They consisted of parents, wives, friends and family whose tremendous vocal support was greatly appreciated by all our teams. It was recognised not only by us, but also the organisers who awarded London with the 'Best Supporters' Award.

A final thank you should go out to TV personality and Ex Professional footballer, Mark Bright, whose coaching session of the youngsters laid the foundation to their success. Mark on receiving the good news, very kindly sent a text congratulating the youngsters on their victory.


Summary

GAA LONDON amassed the following during the 2009 Mahasaba Tournament:

One WINNERS trophy
One RUNNERS-UP trophy
Two GOLDEN BOOTS
FAIR PLAY Award
BEST SUPPORTERS Award

Images of the day can be obtained via the following links…. http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/shrutichauhan100/MochiFootballApr2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCLnYgbPQ0qzm5AE&feat=email

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/NONONSENSE010468/MOCHIFOOTBALLTOURNAMENTDAYAJAYPICS?authkey=Gv1sRgCMXVtqb4jtzlzwE&feat=email

Organisers' Comments
It was very encouraging to hear comments made by some of the Leicester organisers. They said that they were extremely pleased with the numbers of teams GAA London had entered into the competition, the most for a number of years. We assured them that we were very confident that this would continue into the future.

Sponsorship
We will be actively seeking sponsorship for the Mahasaba Tournament 2010, please contact us if you are able to help us.

Future
Mochi football returns in September and we will let you know more details closer to the time.