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One for the champs
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The Railway championship was an evenly contested tournament
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Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
Winning spirit The Western Railway hockey team is all smiles after winning the 65th All India Railway Hockey Championship Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
Hockey fans had a chance to witness some good hockey matches when the 65th All India Railway Hockey Tournament came to town recently. With top quality Astroturf grounds available in the city, Hyderabad has become one of the major hockey centres in India, and every year at least a couple of important hockey tournaments are held here.
The railway championship saw stiff competition among the top teams that were in the fray. In the final match, the strong Western Railway outfit defeated Northern Railway 3-1 to lift the Khanna Memorial Trophy.
The fact that the home team was able to give a good display in most of the matches and finally lost to none other than the winner of the tournament, provided evidence that the team has plenty of depth and talent. It was clear that players such as Shrinivas, Chengappa, Dung Dung and other SCR forwards and midfielders have the ability to trouble the best of defences at this level.
The final was an evenly contested match and eventually Western triumphed with a well-deserved victory. In most of its matches, Western showed good teamwork and improvisation in tactics while the shooting was reasonably accurate. In the final, Chandrakesh Kumar, Amardeep Singh and Hardeep Singh were the scorers for Western, while for Northern the solitary striker was Harish Kumar.
South Central Railway progressed up the ranks with some commendable performances based on teamwork and confidence that the key players exhibited. It entered the semi finals with a 5-2 victory over North Eastern Railway. The first half was confined mostly to midfield and SCR held territorial advantage. Despite a few missed chances SCR managed to come out on top.
But in the semi final SCR lost to Western Railway by two goals to nil, both the goals coming from the stick of the speedy Hardeep Singh. For Western it was a good revenge since SCR had won the earlier contest between the two teams in the previous edition of the tournament.
But in the play-off for the third spot, SCR seemed to have learnt its lesson and pulled out one of its best performances of the entire tournament against the strong outfit from Integral Coach Factory. The home team launched repeated attacks on the rival citadel with such speed and precision that the ICF defence was in disarray on many occasions.
Ultimately SCR won by a huge 6-1 margin. For SCR it was Chengappa (three goals), Mayur (two goals) and Dung Dung who successfully found the mark.
The speed of the SCR frontline could not be countered by the rival defence and its cohesion with the midfield was rarely faulty. SCR gave ample evidence that with the players that it has at present in its ranks, it is a formidable unit in inter-Railway tournaments.
ABHIJIT SEN GUPTA
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Metro Plus
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