The Hindu : Railways regains Fed Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 04, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

Railways regains Fed Cup

By Our Sports Reporter

RAJ NANDGAON, MARCH 3. Seasoned campaigners Manjinder Kaur and Suman Bala rose to the occasion just when Orissa seemed to have taken control and piloted Railways to victory in the Federation Cup here on Wednesday.

A fluke goal early in the second half changed the tempo of the match as an athletic Orissa went on a rampage after the equaliser from Pravasini Bage. Painful memories of Railways' loss to Haryana in the final of the 1999 Tirupati Federation Cup came alive. But, Railways was quick to assert itself. A 3-1 win in the final of the seventh edition helped Railways regain the only missing trophy from its collection.

Starting with a 4-3-3 combination, unlike in its previous matches when it used five strikers, Railways allowed Orissa to breath easy. The forward line of Saba Anjum, Pritam Rani Siwach, Sanggai Chanu and Mamta Kharab found it difficult to even get into the scoring circle, and even also wasted five penalty corners in 23 minutes.

On the other hand, Bahamani Tirkey, Mukta Barla and Sarita Lakra showed immense poise. The trio, with support from Basanti Lakra and Subhadra Pradhan, ran down the middle several times to give Railways some jitters. Orissa had an opportunity in the 11th minute when Jasinta Toppo reverse flicked, but the ball flew just off the post.

Something extra was needed from Railways to contain the overbearing Orissa forwards. In the 20th minute, Manjinder snatched the ball in the centre and passed it to Surinder Kaur, who ran down from the right flank before crossing to Pritam. That could have been the breakthrough for Railways, however, Subhadra stopped Pritam's weak attempt at the goal line. Later in the second half, she would enact yet another goal-line save.

Manjinder finally broke the deadlock. In the 23rd minute, Railways earned its sixth penalty corner and after struggling in the first attempt Manjinder drove hard to make it 1-0.

Orissa had some more surprises in store, though the equaliser was debatable. Pravasini took a shot from outside the scoring area and the umpire Helen Soy ruled that the ball took a nick from a defender's stick. With scores even, Orissa stepped on the pedal. Railways' deep defenders, Kanti Baa and Suman Bala were put on notice, but both sailed through. In fact, after wasting 12 of the 13 penalty corners, Suman slammed in a grounder in the 14th, in the 55th minute. And, two minutes later, Sanggai gave Railways the winning margin, scoring off a pass from Surinder.

Mumbai finishes third

Junior international Nishi Chauhan scored a brace and steered Mumbai to a 2-0 win over Karnataka, in the play-off for the third place.

Nishi scored the first goal in the 15th minute on a move set up by Fatima and Poonam Kujur and Mumbai held on to the lead till six minutes remained in the match. She put it beyond Karnataka with yet another excellent field effort, in the 64th minute.

The results:

Final: Railways 3 (Manjinder Kaur, Suman Bala, Sanggai Chanu) beat Orissa 1 (Pravasini Bage).

Play-off for third place: Mumbai 2 (Nishi Chauhan 2) beat Karnataka 0.

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