The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Army XI, BSF in title round

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Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

Army XI, BSF in title round

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, APRIL 11. The final of the 110th edition of the all-India Beighton Cup hockey tournament will be fought between last year's runner-up Army XI and 2003 winner Border Security Force (Jalandhar) on Wednesday.

In the semifinals of the Indian Oil sponsored meet here on Monday, Army XI downed the National championship runner-up Indian Oil Corporation by the odd goal in seven at the CC&FC while BSF outplayed Punjab Police 3-0 to set up a repeat of the 1998 final where BSF had triumphed.

A severe thunderstorm on Sunday evening had left the playing field soft. Consequently, the pace of both games suffered with the players finding it difficult to mount quick attacks. BSF took charge against Punjab Police from the start. Showing good understanding, BSF surged into lead in the 21st minute through a penalty stroke conversion by Marianus Lakra. Five minutes later Ranjit Singh finished a combined move with a neat tap to make it 2-0.

This Punjab Police team, no way near the strength of the previous outfits that played in this tournament, continued to suffer owing to lack of will to fight and conceded the third goal in the 33rd minute. Devender Kumar made the most of the chance to slot the ball in.

Army XI, which topped the group with an all-win record, found IOC a tough unit to take on as the initial exchanges suggested. In fact, it was IOC which played better and to a plan from the beginning only to muff two rosy chances within 10 minutes of the game.

It proved costly as Army drew first blood in the 14th minute following a penalty corner. As the ball went loose, international and captain Ignace Tirkey got hold of it and shot in.

IOC missed a good medio with a vision to initiate the move owing to an ankle injury to its captain Viren Rasquinha. After Army XI went up 2-0 following a penalty stroke conversion by Suresh Kumar, Rasquinha had to come in and what a wonderful job he did. He played his part to perfection and galvanised the team into a unit with a stream of passes.

Suddenly, IOC began to see the ball more and the Army defence came under sustained pressure. IOC succeeded in nullifying the 2-0 lead with strikes in the 30th and 31st minute following penalty corner awards. Arvind Yadav got the first and Roshan Minz the second.

The change of sides brought more luck to IOC as it went ahead for the first time thanks to Minz's 43rd minute strike. Army XI regrouped and fought back with Tirkey marshalling his attack from the midfield. The Army XI's wingers came into play more prominently. The mounting pressure had its toll as Chandrashekar Xalxo slammed home a penalty corner in the 53rd minute and A.K. Majhi sealed the match in the 65th.

The results: Army XI 4 (Ignace Tirkey 14th, Suresh Kumar Chandrashekar Xalco 53rd, A.K. Majhi 65th) beat IOC 3 (Arvind Yadav 30th, Roshan Minz 31st & 43rd), BSF 3 (Marianus Lakra 21st, Ranjit Singh 26th, Devender Kumar 33rd) bt Punjab Police 0.

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