Mumbai-based hockey outfit Champions Training Centre (CTC) went down to a seasoned Indian Oil in the penultimate round of the 83rd Scindia Gold Cup in Gwalior recently. The city outfit, playing its maiden season, comprised youngsters from across the state, and gave a good account of themselves, considering the side’s average age is just 22. The team is just a year old, but have already made it to five finals, winning three, including the prestigious Mumbai Hockey Championship.

Led by Olympian Devindar Walmiki, CTC fought hard before losing 3-5 to a star-studded IOC via shootout. IOC boasted an impressive line-up that included Hockey India’s Player of the Year Hardik Singh and Tokyo Olympics bronze medal-winning team member Dilpreet Singh besides a host of former internationals with double Olympian Devesh Chauhan and Olympian Deepak Thakur as their team manager and coach respectively.