The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Emphatic win for Indian Airlines

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Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

Emphatic win for Indian Airlines

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, MARCH 21. Defending champion, Indian Airlines, recorded an emphatic 6-1 win against Indian Universities in a Pool-A match at the Begumpet Police Stadium to notch up it's third straight win and qualify for the knockout phase in the 61st senior National hockey championship for the Rangaswamy Cup here on Monday.

Gagan Ajit Singh, enjoying himself against lowly-rated teams, recorded his third straight hat-trick to fashion a convincing 11-0 win for Punjab against Gujarat in Pool-C and assure a semifinal berth. Punjab's domination was so complete that captain Daljit Singh, who set the tempo by scoring the first goal in the third minute, and Gagan Ajit preferred to sit out most of the second session.

In the Airlines vs Universities match the result was never in doubt, only question was how well could the university boys fight.

They showed glimpses of it, particularly when Sukhjinder Singh, Major Singh and Rajwinder Singh combined well upfront briefly in the first-half. But the star-studded Airlines with the likes of Dhanraj Pillay, Arjun Halappa, Samir Dad and seasoned custodian Ashish Ballal in its ranks was just too good.

Barla on the spot

Veteran Lazarus Barla was spot on with the first-minute penalty-corner to set the trend. Universities had a chance to score early when Rajwinder Singh essayed a lovely short through pass to the waiting Akram Iqbal inside the striking zone only to see the latter fumble badly. Airlines increased the lead in the 17th when Girish Pimpale converted the second penalty-corner with an indirect hit.

An opportunistic goal by Sukhjinder Singh, who deflected a quick, short pass from the left by Major Singh, reduced the margin. Airlines' job was made easier by a confused defence manned by Kunal Kanoujia and Anil Singh with goalkeeper Sukh Sagar compounding the misery.

After leading 2-1 at the break, Airlines raised the tempo on resumption. Baljinder scored of a penalty corner rebound in the 45th minute.

Towards the close, Altaf-ur-Rehman made amends for his earlier lacklustre display by striking twice in the 60th and 67th minutes through field goals with the speedy Halappa having a hand in both efforts.

Quite fittingly, the final goal had Pillay's stamp. He dribbled his way down the centre to essay a perfect minus to the waiting Halappa and the latter made no mistake.

Services too continued it's winning streak recording a 5-1 win against Bhopal Blues in Pool-D to virtually qualify for the knockout phase. The Hyderabad-Himachal Pradesh match scheduled for the evening has been rescheduled for Tuesday morning at Begumpet.

The results: Pool A: Indian Airlines 6 (Lazarus Barla, Girish Pimpale, Baljinder, Altaf-ur-Rehman 2, Arjun Halappa) bt Indian Universities 1 (Sukhvnder Singh). Pool C: Punjab 11 (Daljit Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh 3, Kulbir Singh 2, Gurjant Singh 2, Amit Singh, Prabhdeep Singh, Jagbir Singh) bt Gujarat 0; Jharkhand 1 (Thomson Nag) drew with MP 1 (Gulam). Pool D: Andhra 9 (Arun Ravi Kumar 3, Laxminarayana 2, B. Phani Kumar 2, Harsha Vardhan, G. Roopesh) bt Chhattisgarh 1 (G. Roopesh); Services 10 (D. Mahadik 2, Sunil Ekka 2, Jagjeet Singh, Harpreet Singh 3, Suresh Kumar, Pawal Lakra) bt Bhopal Blues 2 (Arif Baig, Imran Ali). Pool E: Uttar Pradesh bt Haryana 3-0 (Ravi Bharathi, Rajneesh Pandey, Vivek). Pool F: Tamil Nadu 4 (Gopinath, Raja 2, Prabhakar) bt Uttaranchal 0. Pool G: Himachal Pradesh 3 (Somnath, Divya Vijay, Jaktar Singh) bt Tripura 2 (Mahender Kinto, Deepa Sant Singh). Pool H: Bengal 2 (Edmond Kerketta 2) bt J & K 1 (Mandeep Singh); Patiala 3 (Sunder Singh 2, Pavan Bashi) bt Bihar 0.