The Hindu : Sport : Convincing victory for IHF Juniors

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Monday, Apr 18, 2005

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Convincing victory for IHF Juniors

Hockey Correspondent

IHF Juniors has virtually sealed a place in the quarterfinals

PHOTO: VINO JOHN

TIME TO CELEBRATE: Raghunath of IHF Juniors celebrates his goal with William Xalco(No. 14) in their match against Karnataka XI.

Chennai: There was precious little to elaborate in eloquent terms about the hockey on view in the Madras Cricket Club-Murugappa Gold Cup tournament on Sunday at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium. That a total of 11 goals surfaced in two matches was no consolation when it came to craft and charm which are the essence of competitive hockey.

Defending champion Indian Hockey Federation Juniors made a serene start in Pool D scoring a convincing 4-1 victory over Karnataka, while in the other encounter, Army XI was too dominant to give MEG (Bangalore) any chance to make a fight out of it in the 5-1 triumph.

The Junior outfit, now in training, to defend the World Cup at Rotterdam in June/July, played well in parts. For no palpable reason the team maintained a slow pace, even while attacking from the flanks. Adam Sinclair did a lot of work in this area but was not sharp enough to provide clipping passes. Ravipal and Hari Prasad caught the eye now and then.

If the frontline remained consistent, it was largely on account of the neat display of the mid-field where the diminutive V.S. Vinay was conspicuous. In the deep defence, William Xalco held the attention.

Until Gurvinder Singh produced that opportunistic goal out of a melee when goalkeeper Bharat Chetri stopped a shot by Ravipal from a penalty corner the Juniors were on a low key.

Superb penalty corner

But before half-time, William Xalco produced an impeccable penalty corner to enlarge the lead. Adam Sinclair increased the margin by converting a penalty stroke that resulted from an obstruction when Bharath Chetri padded a drive by Xalco.

Karnataka's attack was sporadic, but whenever Anup Antony surged in there was some tension in the rival defence. The pressure was definitely on the Juniors' defence. Karnataka struck when Ronald Kiran converted a penalty corner, but IHF scored again close on time from a perfect penalty corner hit by Raghunath.

IHF Juniors has virtually sealed a place in the quarterfinals with three points.

Karnataka has finished its programme with one point, while BSF, with one point has a match remaining against IHF Juniors on Tuesday.

The clash between the two military outfits produced some forthright hockey although the Army XI enjoyed a good measure of dominance in exchanges. Jerum Kujur slotted the lead midway through followed by a rasping penalty corner hit by Xalco. Army XI led 2-0 at half-time.

A penalty stroke by Suresh Kumar put Army XI further ahead after the break but Senthil's goal for MEG kept the Bangalore outfit somewhat in the fight. However, in the last five minutes, MEG conceded two quick goals — a penalty corner from Suresh Kumar and a superbly executed reverse shot by Mahadik.

MEG (Bangalore) made its exit from Pool A without a point in two matches giving Indian Airlines and Army XI a place each in the last eight. Which among the two will finish on top would be decided on Tuesday.

The results:

Army XI 5 (Jerum Khujur, C.S. Xalco, Suresh Kumar 2 and Mahadik) bt MEG (Bangalore) 1 ( Senthil).

IHF Juniors 4 (Gurvinder Singh, Williams Xalco, Adam Sinclair, Raghunath) bt Karnataka XI 1 (Ronald Kiran).

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