The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Punjab Police and BSF in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Punjab Police and BSF in final

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. Punjab Police got past Bharat Petroleum 2-1 while the Border Security Force (BSF) edged Indian Oil 4-3 in the tie-breaker after a goalless draw in the semifinals of the Nehru hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Wednesday. The final will be played on Thursday.

For the second day running, disputed decisions and hold-ups marked the fare. Worst in this aspect was the match between Punjab Police and BPCL. There was a 10-minute hold-up after umpire V.B. Singh awarded Punjab Police's opening goal in the 10th minute. It came following the Jalandhar team's first penalty corner. Baljit Dhillon's flick was blocked by goalkeeper P.U. Bopanna and off the rebound, Daljit Dhillon slotted home. The BPCL players argued that there was a whistle before the goal was scored since the umpire had apparently ruled `infringement' against the goalkeeper that would have led to another penalty corner.

When a Len Aiyappa drag-flick hit Jugraj Singh on his head, prompting V.B. Singh to award a penalty stroke, converted by M. K. Prakash in the 12th minute of the second half, there were arguments again, this time by Punjab Police.

Arguments broke out again in the closing stages when Prasad awarded a penalty corner to Punjab Police for a `raised' ball played onto Irshad Ali's foot by police captain Prabhdeep Singh. That penalty corner fetched another such award for Punjab Police from which Dhillon flicked home to clinch the winner, three minutes from the end.

IOC had enough chances including two penalty corners in the `golden goal' session, to sew up its semifinal clash against BSF, but paid the price in the end.

In the tie-breaker, BSF goalkeeper K.M. Subbaiah dived to his right to save the strike of IOC's Inder Salaria to BSF's 13th entry in the final. Harbhajan, Devinder, Mukhjinder and Raj Singh scored for BSF while Marinus Lakra missed. Prabhjot, Lakhwinder and Bikramjeet were the IOC scorers. Deepak Thakur pushed feebly to the goalkeeper. — Our Special Correspondent