The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : TN forces a draw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

TN forces a draw

Hockey Correspondent

Chennai: When evaluated strictly for quality, neither of the two matches in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament produced a fare that the big holiday crowd could enjoy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Thursday. While Indian Railways picked up full points in Pool C against Mumbai scoring once in each session, Tamil Nadu recovered from a 0-1 deficit at half time to share points with Air India in Pool B.

There was no disputing the fact that Indian Railways was the better of the four teams on view. Coached by the former India captain, V.J. Philips, with inputs from Olympian coach, V. Baskaran, the Railway frontline was more systematic and skilful in its forays. Amit Srivatsava caught the eye frequently with his quick dribbles. Prabhakar Singh as the principal striker contributed quite substantially to keep up the tempo in the attack.

Prabhakar scores

As the match progressed, the Mumbai defence showed signs of slipping up. Only goal-keeper Suresh staved off the attacks until Prabhakar Singh breached the defence. Johnson Ekka, the splendid ball player, who engineered the move and produced a stunning reverse flick to which Prabhakar gave the finishing touches.

Encouraged by the early success, Railways enhanced the pressure at the rival end after the break. A reverse shot by Ekka missed the target even as Suresh brought off an excellent save from Prabhakar Singh. But close on time, Srivatasava launched a piercing move that ended with Prabhakar finding the target again.

Tamil Nadu looked palpably sluggish almost throughout the first half. This was attributed to the arrival of six players from Kolkatta only on Thursday after the Beighton Cup. Slowly, however, the team found its rhythm after Air India, for whom veterans, Gavin Ferreira and Devinder Kumar were outstanding, forged ahead.

Neat pass

Air India struck midway through in the first half when Kuldeep Singh deflected a neat pass from Gavin into the net. Tamil Nadu had to struggle to come to terms with the lead and only late in the second half did the skipper, Dinesh Naik, come with a neat carpet drive for the equaliser from a penalty corner.

A minute's silence was observed at the start as a mark of respect to the memory of Mr. Mohammad Ghouse, internatioanl umpire and former tournament director, and Mr. V. Rajasekharan, former international and secretary of the Chennai District Hockey Association.

The results: Indian Railways 2 (Prabhakar Singh) bt Mumbai 0; Air India 1 (Kuldeep Singh) drew with Tamil Nadu 1 (Dinesh Naik).

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