The Hindu : Sport : Ajay is DAV’s golden boy

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Friday, Feb 15, 2008
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Ajay is DAV’s golden boy

NEW DELHI: Ajay Kumar struck the ‘golden goal’ as defending champion DAV College (Jalandhar) defeated Sri Guru Gobind Singh College (Chandigarh) 2-1 in the semifinals of the 15th SAIL Nehru Champion Colleges hockey tournament here on Thursday.

After the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation period, Ajay came up with a master stroke, seconds from the whistle in the first half of extra-time. He deftly weaved his way past the Chandigarh team’s defence and unleashed a diagonal drive from the left to beat the goalkeeper as well as defender Jaswinder Gill who dived in vain.

The Jalandhar side had dominated the first half, and converted a penalty corner through Lakhwinder Singh who smartly dragged into the net to the left of the goalkeeper. However, on resumption, the Chandigarh team showed fighting qualities that matched its energetic running and Rajesh Kumar converted the team’s first penalty corner to restore parity.

The Chandigarh team could have built on that momentum but for Mukul Bhargav’s spectacular reverse hit being palmed away efficiently by the goalkeeper Jaswinder Singh during extra-time.

JNPGC in final

In the other semifinal, Jawaharlal Nehru PG College (Bhopal) moved past another team from Jalandhar, Lyallpur Khalsa College, with a 3-1 verdict.

It was the Jalandhar team that shot ahead in the fourth minute with a penalty corner conversion by Bikramjeet Singh. The Bhopal side equalised 10 minutes later through Arif.

Early on in the second half, Irfan Ali and Juver Ahmed struck quick blows in a space of four minutes to ensure victory for Jawaharlal Nehru PG. — Special Correspondent

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