Railways extends lease on title

By Kamesh Srinivasan

JABALPUR, JAN. 19. Railways retained its grasp around the Lady Ratan Tata Trophy as it beat Haryana 2-0 after leading 1-0 at the interval in the final of the 50th National women's hockey championship at the Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla Stadium here on Wednesday.

The thousands of enthusiasts, who thronged the stadium, were treated to a superb fare as Railways asserted its supremacy, despite the Haryana girls playing their heart out.

There was a sense of purpose in the Railway ranks, and the team had no difficulty in sustaining the momentum once it shot ahead in the third minute, with a classy penalty corner conversion.

Skipper Pritam Siwach made a crisp deflection off a shot from Suraj Lata Devi in encashing the team's first penalty corner. It was a well-thought out execution, as Kamala Dalal pushed the ball to Sita Gussain on her left, when everyone expected Sandeep Kaur to take a direct hit. Sita relayed the ball to the pusher Suraj Lata who made no mistake in forwarding it to her captain across the goal with a firm drive.

``We had decided to try this variation in the penalty corner as we found that nobody was putting any pressure on the `pusher'. The plan worked. The team played very well, and I was confident that we would win by a two-goal margin'', said coach Ashok Dewan, elated at the team's 17th triumph in the prestigious championship.

Playing anywhere near perfection on the unpredictable surface was a difficult proposition for any team, and the Railway team, literally the Indian team, was no exception. Yet, in executing the second goal, to cap its performance on the penalty corner conversion, Railways showed that it was easily a few notches above the rest.

Sunita Dalal put Jyoti Sunita Kullu through on the right flank, and the latter dodged past the defenders deftly and struck a cross to Kamala Dalal, stationed in front of the goal. Kamala trapped and struck the ball in one fluent motion past a bemused Haryana goalkeeper Suman Deswal, and threw up both her hands in a hearty celebration.

In all, it was a superlative fare from a team that was stung at the labour it had to undertake in getting past Mumbai in the semifinals. There was a point to prove that it was not a pedestrian team, and Railways overcame the hurdles to make a firm statement that Indian women's hockey was moving in the right direction, despite the championship being played on grass.

The eight other penalty corners for Railways, including the last, taken after the hooter, proved unproductive mainly because it was difficult to stop the bouncing ball.

The diminutive Surinder Kaur was a class act for Haryana on the right flank, and kept the Railway defenders on their toes, with her bursts of speed and skilful play. However, she lacked the support to make a dent into the confidence of the Railway team.

The problem with Haryana was that it could not attack fully, and tended to be defensive, keeping Sarabjeet Kaur to strengthen the halfline, and operating with four forwards, Meenu Sahni, Simarjeet Kaur and Meenakshi apart from Surinder.

In the match for the third place, Mumbai wound up its campaign brilliantly with a 3-1 triumph. The lively Sanghai Ibemhal Chanu smashed home two goals, both off rebounds, including the first off the team's second penalty corner to make it easy for Mumbai. Poonam Surin, playing in place of B.M. Geeta, who had sprained her ankle midway through the semifinal, sneaked in a goal in between with a sharp strike.

For Punjab, Mohan Davinder Kaur made it 1-1 in the 11th minute of the second half with a fine goal.

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