The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Punjab Police retains Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

Punjab Police retains Cup

NEW DELHI, NOV. 25. Punjab Police wasted several chances in regulation period and extra time before clinching a 4-3 verdict in the tie-breaker against the Border Security Force (BSF) in the final of the Nehru hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Thursday.

The goalless final proved a huge disappointment for a crowd of around 3,000. There were no breathtaking moves and no individual brilliance worth talking about.

For the better part, BSF defended, relying purely on counter-attacks, mainly on the speed of its skipper and centre-forward Harbhajan Singh.

With the umpires, V. B. Singh and Javed Sheikh asserting themselves early enough, giving temporary suspensions to BSF's Mukhjinder and Punjab Police's Daljit Dhillon after the two clashed, the usual sight of arguments and gesticulations were absent this day.

Punjab Police had the upperhand in the first half when Gabbar Singh and Baljit Dhillon, off a penalty corner flick, were denied by goalkeeper K. M. Subbaiah. A Gagan Ajit shot just missed the target with Jagbir Singh failing to get a touch as the ball sped across.

The tempo slackened a lot in the second half, with Punjab Police keen on possession rather than attack. For once, Gagan Ajit showed a lot of enthusiasm in falling back to initiate moves and even to lend a helping hand to the defence on occasion.

However, he missed, too, the most glaring being right at the end of the `golden goal' period when he softly flicked into the goalkeeper after getting clear of the defence with a Gabbar Singh pass.

Punjab Police spurned four penalty corners, twice Baljit Dhillon not getting a flick in time after Jugraj sold `dummies'. Incidentally, Jugraj played for 62 minutes including extra time, but from his right half position he mispassed a few times.

He looked keen to show how fit he was on his comeback from that terrible car accident in September last year. And he did get his penalty stroke `in' during the tiebreaker.

Baljit Dhillon, one of the most experienced penalty-takers, missed his `stroke', flicking high over the bar, while Prabhdeep Singh, Gagan Ajit and Daljit Dhillon converted for Punjab Police.

For BSF, Harbhajan, Devinder Kumar and Marinus Lakra scored. Mukhjinder Singh pushed wide while goalkeeper Manpreet saved off Raj Singh's last push to signal Punjab Police's victory.

Indian Oil beat Bharat Petroleum 5-4 to take the third place. Kamlesh Kumar scored three and Prabhjot two for IOC while Len Aiyappa had a hat-trick off penalty corners with S. S. Gill scoring the fourth. — Our Special Correspondent

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