The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : C. Rly. proves its might

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 28, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

C. Rly. proves its might

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: Central Railway outplayed Army XI 4-2 to enter the third round of the 43rd All-India Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mahindra Stadium here on Wednesday.

The Bangalore-based outfit, without playmaker Ignace Tirkey, looked pretty ordinary. The local team proved its superiority through a double strike by Rajeev Bhatkar and successful attempts by Shamim Baig and Nimit Lal.

Army found its bearings in the last quarter and in fading light as Abinav Ganapathi and Pawal Lakra found the target, but it was Central Railway's day.

Corps of Signals' Rakesh Kumar scored a memorable goal, hoodwinking two Air India defenders and hitting an angular shot from the left to mark his team's successful comeback with a 8-7 verdict. Air India led 2-0 through Gavin Ferreira and Davinder Kumar, but Signals fought back to restore parity through Pius Kujur and Rakesh, who played a stellar role in the tie-breaker too.

Indian Overseas Bank's perseverance paid dividends against EME (Jalandhar) after it trailed twice in each half. L. Anandan's penalty corner conversion, five minutes from time, helped IOB pip its rival 10-9, via the tie-breaker. First, it was D. Felix who kept its hopes alive by levelling the scores 1-1 after full back Bhupinder Singh converted a penalty corner for EME.

Midway through the second half, EME found the target again through Avtar Singh, before Anandan's timely goal.

In the tie-breaker, Felix, D. Muthukumaran (2), L. Anandan (2), D. Muthuselvan and G. Gopinath scored for IOB, while Avtar Singh (Sr.) (2), J. Kindo (2), Avtar Singh (Jr.), Gurmeet Singh and Eman Marum were the scorers for EME.

Other result: All India Customs 4 (Hemant Gethe 2, Edwin Moti, Rahul Singh) bt Andhra Bank 3 (G. Manikyala Rao 2, N. Sairaj Singh).

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