The Hindu : Sport : Bhaskar is the hero

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Bhaskar is the hero

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Goalkeeper M.S.V. Bhaskar was the unexpected hero, bringing off two fine saves in the tie-breaker, to help Andhra Pradesh Police edge out a fighting AC Guards 5-4 in the final of the Indira Gandhi memorial hockey tournament, organised by Sports of India, at Begumpet Police Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Police shot into lead in the ninth minute when Suribabu was on target after dribbling past a couple of closely-marking defenders.

This effort lifted the morale of the team, which went on the offensive with the wily Rafiuddin initiating some pleasing moves, especially on the right flank. But his good moves went a begging as the normally efficient forwards Suribabu and P.K. Laxminarayan did not show the desired coordination upfront.

On resumption, AC Guards was in an attacking mood and could have scored the equaliser immediately but for David Raj's inability to trap a long pass from Afzal Khan near the striking zone.

But, in the 33rd minute, the reliable Abdul Hannan positioned himself perfectly for a neat cross from the right to find the target with a close ranger.

Unwanted situations

Thereafter, the contest witnessed some avoidable scuffles. The referee Jude Absolom compounded the situation with some debatable decisions like reversing the decision of his colleague who refused to concede a penalty-corner in a goalmouth melee.

At one stage, supporters of AC Guards almost threatened to enter the field in protest against the refereeing of Absolom. But the bench officials prevented anything untoward from happening.

With the teams locked one-all at the end of regulation time, tie-breaker was applied in which AP Police custodian Bhaskar made a diving stop to the first hit taken by Aleem and then deflected the next shot by Azharullah by leaping to his right. They were efforts which clinched the issue for Policemen. Younis Khan, Md. Ibrahim and Md. Qadir were on target for AC Guards while Laxminarayana, P. Nagendrababu, Suribabu and Rafiuddin scored for the winner.

Former Minister P.V. Ranga Rao gave away the prizes.

Bhavana blanks Bindya

P. Bhavana Suresh blanked K. Bindya 8-0 in the girls under-14 second round of the Moin-ud-Dowla tennis tournament organised by Secunderabad Club on its premises here.

The results: Girls: Under-14: Second round: P. Bhavana Suresh bt K. Bindya 8-0; P. Krishna Raj bt Nikita Gupta 8-0; Zainab Ali Sajjad bt Vedatrayee 8-1; Veda Reddy w/o Teertha Iska; S. Ruhi Kausar w/o G. Urmila; D. Vennela w/o G. Urmila; C.H. Nidhi bt Riddhi Dhannawat 8-0; Sravya Reddy bt Seema Mirza 8-0.

Men's doubles: First round: Y. Mallesh & Vijay Simha bt John Abraham & Shiva 8-4; I. Raghavendra Rao & Manish w/o Pranay & Laxman; Goverdhan & Ramakrishna bt Chetan Pandit & B. Sunil 8-4; Ali Sajjad & Rohan w/o Saquib & Wasey; Narender Sai & Eshwar Sai bt Nishant & Nitin 8-0; Arvind & Anjan w/o Pradeep & Ayazuddin; Vivek Reddy & A. Siddarth bt Vamsi Shreya Raja & Vamsi 8-0; D.R.C. Kiran & A.R. Anand Kumar bt Kaushal & Sai Kumar 8-0; K.V.N. Murthy & Verma w/o N. Sarat Chandra & Kumar; P.Bhagirath & Gautam bt Amit Reddy & N.R. Vivek 8-3; Pradeep Reddy & N. Yeshwant bt Irfanuddin & Zaiq 8-0; Md. Rasheed & Md. Waheed bt Madhusudhan & Anirudh 8-5; N. Kiran Kumar & E. Kiran w/o Maruti Mohan & Shankar; Rambabu & Uday Kumar w/o Jehangir & Srinu.

Veterans: 55 years & above: Hanumanth Rao & Sai Ram Babu w/o Sekhar & Somalingam; Mahadevan & Ram Prabhakar bt K.V. Reddy & M.A. Baig 9-8(7-5); Raghunathan & Chalapati Rao bt Ravi Madan & Verma 9-7.

Easy for CMR CE

CMR College of Engineering (Hyderabad) recorded a nine-wicket win against Amina Engineering College (Hyderabad) in the fifth SR Champions Trophy State-level inter-engineering colleges cricket tournament in Warangal on Wednesday, according to information received here.

The scores: Progressive IT&S, Hyd, 93 for seven lost to Bandari Srinivas IT & S 95 for three.

Amina Engg College, Hyd, 81 (Girish four for five) lost to CMR College of Engg, Hyd, 82 for one (Naveen 42).

CM College of Engg, Hyd, 145 for three (Abhinav 58) bt SV Engg College, Suryapet, 62..

CVSR, Ghatkesar 97 for nine lost to Rao & Naidu College of Engg, Ongole, 99 for five.

Vaagdevi Engg College, Kadapa, 114 for seven (Praveen four for 16) bt Sindura College of Engg, EG, 100 for five.

Aurora Engg College, Hyd, 132 for five (Srikanth 55) bt Ramappa Engg College, Warangal, 97 for eight.

Sai scalps six

Leg-spinner Sai Akshayraj (six for 11) helped Raju's Cricket Academy score a three-wicket win against Neeraj Cricket Academy in the final of the Inter-academies under-11 Charles Trophy invitation cricket tournament, organised by Daniel Cricket Academy, here.

Akshayraj was named `player of the final' while Y. Harish of Raju's Cricket Academy who scored 156 runs and took 11 wickets in the event was the `player of the series' and `best batsman'. BJP MLA Kishan Reddy gave away the prizes.

The scores: Neeraj Cricket Academy 102 in 27.1 overs (Sai Akshayraj six for 11) lost to Raju's Cricket Academy 103 for seven in 31.2 overs.

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