The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Andhra enters final

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Saturday, Dec 30, 2006
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Sport - Golf

Andhra enters final

Principal Correspondent

THALASSERY: Tamil Nadu got six penalty corners inside the last seven minutes. It wasted all of them and helped rival Andhra create an upset in the first semifinal of the 19th South Zone senior men's hockey championship at the Municipal Stadium here on Friday.

Andhra defeated the holder 3-2 to reach the final of this event after a gap of 11 years. Incidentally, it was at this very same venue that it played its last final. In Saturday's final, Andhra meets Karnataka, which beat Hyderabad 2-0.

Tamil Nadu took an early lead when, in the sixth minute, Singaravelu made good use of a neat pass from international Adam Sinclair from near the left corner. Andhra, however, equalised in the 15th minute as P. Chowdeswara Prasad sent home after receiving a long hit from P. Lakshminarayana. The score remained 1-1 till the end of the opening half, in which Andhra refused to be overawed by the overwhelming favourite.

Taking lead

It then took the lead in the 44th minute, through N. Sairaj Singh, off a penalty corner. Andhra went 3-1 up in the 60th minute when M. Ajay Babu struck off a counter attack. Two minutes later, Kannan reduced the margin for Tamil Nadu, but Andhra hang on to the lead to script a remarkable victory in a match that produced plenty of action.

There was drama of a different kind in the second semifinal, as Hyderabad's Mayur Subbaih was red-carded for his abusive language and also trying to manhandle the referee, 20 minutes into the second half. Karnataka, which has looked the best side in the competition, had virtually taken control of the match by then.

Laxman Rao opened the scoring in the 11th off a goalmouth melee, following a powerful hit into the `D' by Ravi Kumar from the right. Then, in the 39th minute, K.P. Dinesh scored off a 16-yard hit from Ronald Kiran and settled in the issue.

Earlier, Hyderabad had beaten Puducherry 5-3 in the penalty shootout to reach the semifinals. That would remain the team's only pleasant memory for the day.

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