The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : BP storms back to beat Central Railway

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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
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BP storms back to beat Central Railway

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Sabu Varkey and Hari Prasad were introduced to steady nerves in the Bharat Petroleum team after rival Central Railway clawed back from a two-goal deficit to level at 2-2 in a Pool ‘B’ quarterfinal league match of the 46th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament here.

The presence of these playmakers helped turned the tide at the Mahindra stadium, as Amar Aiyamma scored with a rasping shot from the top of the ‘D’ for BP’s third goal (3-2). Devinder then guided home a free hit as BP won 4-2 and took the top place in the pool.

Central Railway provided the toughest opposition, though it was two goals down at the breather.

Jarnail Singh followed up in the goalmouth for BP’s first goal, waiting for the ball to roll off the custodian’s pads, and prising it free and wide for a scoop high into the net. Gurpreet flicked home powerfully off the first penalty corner BP forced.

Rajeev Bhatkar, the hard-running Central Railway forward, scored the first goal for the local side. Naveen Kumar sounded the boards as Central roared back to 2-2 before BP opted for the calming influence of Varkey and Prasad. Hyderabad XI wore down Tamil Nadu XI 3-1 to finish second.

The results (quarterfinal league): Pool ‘B’: Hyderabad XI 3 (Ramaswamy, Arvind, L. Ramesh) bt Tamil Nadu XI 1 (Vinod Rayer); Bharat Petroleum 4 (Jarnail Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Amar Aiyamma, Devender) bt Central Railway 2 (Rajeev Bhatkar, Naveen Kumar).

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