The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Bharat Petroleum humbles Indian Airlines

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

Bharat Petroleum humbles Indian Airlines

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Indian Airlines can be most unpredictable, especially while playing in the Nehru hockey tournament. On Monday, in the pool `B' super league match, the star-studded team went down 0-2 to Bharat Petroleum.

A good crowd at the Shivaji Stadium could not get to see the individual brilliance of Dhanraj Pillay. Still, the former India spearhead was the lone man in the Indian Airlines frontline who made a wholehearted effort till the final hooter. BPCL was two goals up by the 20th minute, Amar Aiyamma cashing in on a Lazarus Barla lapse in defence to slot home in the ninth minute and Len Aiyappa flicking in off a penalty corner.

Aiyappa, William Xalxo and Bipin Fernandes played prominent roles in the defence in the second half to make sure of BPCL's victory. There could have been a couple of more goals to the winner's credit had not Tushar Khandekar and Ravi Pal messed up clear openings late in the match.

Indian Airlines had six penalty corners and found that it did not have Sandeep Singh in the field for four of them. The star corner-flicker did try off two such awards in the second half but found BPCL goalkeeper A.C. Kuttappa unrelenting.

Stubborn resistance

Sandeep Michael wasted the best of field goal opportunities for the Airlines, shooting wide from just inside the circle after he had got around a defender in the 50th minute.

Indian Airlines had beaten Punjab National Bank in its opening pool match and should be through to the quarterfinals, along with BPCL, unless something dramatic happens in the BPCL-PNB match on Tuesday.

In pool `A', Punjab Police overcame a tough resistance from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at 3-1 to take its points tally to four after completion of its super league matches. It had drawn with Namdhari XI the previous day.

Daljit Singh scored two while Gagan Ajit scored the third for Punjab Police. Rajender Singh struck in the second half off a penalty corner for CRPF after it was two goals in arrears by the interval.

PSB begins well

In pool `D', Punjab and Sind Bank opened its campaign with a 3-0 victory over Tamil Nadu XI. Ajit Pal Singh, Parminder Singh and Kulwinder Singh scored for the Jalandhar bank team.

Tamil Nadu XI, routed 8-1 by Indian Oil in the opening match, put up a better display on Monday and yet ended up loser. It could not make use of five penalty corners.

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