The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Namdhari XI holds Army XI

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

Namdhari XI holds Army XI

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 30. Army XI squandered a 2-0 lead and dropped two vital points against a resurgent Namdhari XI in the Deccan Herald State Super Division hockey league at the KSHA stadium here on Thursday. Playing its penultimate match in the league, Army XI, which had begun in whirlwind fashion, ended up sharing the spoils with a 3-3 draw and now has 26 points from 10 matches, with eight wins and two draw.

Suresh Kumar (Sr) and Harpreet Singh struck within the first 17 minutes of play to put the Armymen 2-0 up. But then the Namdhari fought back through Didar Singh (Jr) and Anmolak Singh.

Tirkey put Army XI in the lead again with a neat strike in the 52nd minute but three minutes from time Didar Singh (Jr) sounded the boards off his team's seventh penalty corner award to restore parity and help his team troop away with a 3-3 draw.

Namdhari has 19 points from nine matches, six wins and a draw.

Central Excise ended Canara Bank's winning streak with a 3-0 verdict in another crucial tie, with Ajay Aiyappa striking home a hat-trick for the winner, scoring in the fifth, 56th and 58th minutes of play.

Central Excise now has 11 points from ten matches while the bankmen completed their engagements with 19 points.

In an inconsequential match between two bottom placed teams, PCTC snatched a 2-1 win over Maratha Light Infantry (MLI).

MLI, which has just a solitary point to show thus far, equalised through Rajshekar Dasar in the 30th minute after F. Baig had put PCTC ahead in the 15th minute. But Sairaj Singh struck again for PCTC in the 64th minute to seal his team's victory for a tally of 11 points at the conclusion of its engagements.

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