Bhumika leads Mumbai University to football title

The victorious Mumbai University girls football team with their gold medals and trophy in Lonere, near Panvel

Skipper and striker Bhumika Mane, 18, was in red hot form as she led Mumbai University to the football title in the Maharashtra State Inter-University Sports Festival (February 3 to 7) organised by the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technology University at Lonere, near Panvel, recently.

In a keenly-contested summit clash on Tuesday, Mumbai University, coached by Lawrence Nadar, got the better of Amravati 1-0 thanks to an own-goal.

Skipper and striker Bhumika Mane with the winner's trophy

In their first-round match, Mumbai University hammered Jalgaon 10-0 with Bhumika netting a double hat-trick. Florian Pereira scored a brace while Samara and Manushri netted one goal each.

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In Round 2, the Mumbai girls routed Solapur 6-0 with Bhumika helping herself to a hat-trick while Florian scored a brace. The semi-final saw Mumbai up against a tough Nagpur side, but a goal each by Bhumika and Samara helped them beat their opponents 2-1.

"This [title] is very special because this is the first time that the Mumbai University team qualified for this tournament. And to win it as captain feels great too," said Bhumika, who represented India at the 2022 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The Class XII student of St Andrew's College (Bandra) added that the inter-university competition was intense. "There were 20 teams and all made it here after a tough qualification round. Our final [against Amravati] was the toughest. We were fortunate to get that own-goal, but overall our team was the best in the fray and our dominance in the earlier rounds proves this," said Bhumika, who finished as the tournament's highest scorer with 10 goals.