Hyderabad chalks up its second win

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

HYDERABAD, NOV. 26. Host Hyderabad chalked up its second win when it defeated SAIL 2-0 and Indian Railways came from behind to get the better of a fighting Bihar 2-1 while ITBP defeated Andhra 2-0 in the three matches played in the 60th senior National hockey championship here today.

The home team was a little subdued but nevertheless packed enough firepower to send SAIL crashing to its second defeat. SAIL however had its moments and gave a reasonably good performance. Hyderabad took the lead in the 14th minute when Manoj Kumar slammed home a penalty corner.

Thereafter it was SAIL which attacked with determination and forced six penalty corners in the first half itself but failed to convert any. Hyderabad on the other hand got two penalty corners and converted the second.

In the second half it was apparent that SAIL had done its homework and it managed to check the Hyderabad forwards. Yesterday's hat-trick scorer Osman Bin Abdullah was restricted to the left wing and did not get much of the action.

But Hyderabad's second goal which came just a few seconds before the final whistle was a fine one. The move started with Anand Ratna Kumar who sprinted up the left flank and passed to the unmarked Paul Moses in the centre of the striking area. The SAIL goalkeeper Rajukant Saini, in a desperate gamble, charged out to foil Moses. But the latter, seeing him coming, tapped the ball into a vacant spot on the right and Dung Dung darted in to crack the ball into the open goal.

In another match Railways got the better of Bihar 2-1. But the losing team managed to put up a good display especially in the second session when it launched some well coordinated attacks. Bihar took the lead in the 7th minute when Arvind Kumar scored with a spectacular effort.

He cut in from the left and then sent in a rasping reversed stick hit into the top corner of the net leaving Railway goalkeeper Srivastava helpless.

But thereafter Railways took the upper hand and in the 15th minute it got the equaliser. A shot by Lalit Ekka was deflected into the top of the cage by M. Ekka much to the relief of the railway camp.

In the second session, Bihar stepped up the tempo and Railways came under pressure. At this stage an attack by Bihar ended with the ball being deflected into the railway goal. While Bihar felt that it went off the stick of its player Arvind Kumar, the umpire Narsing Prasad ruled it a long corner on the grounds that the hit which was taken from outside the semi circle went in off a defender.

Railways got its second goal in the 51st minute when Anup Tirkey banged the ball home after a penalty corner attempt.

Again Bihar protested that the ball went in off a player's toe but umpire Patnaik stood by his decision that it was a legitimate goal off the stick. After a brief hold up Bihar continued with the game.

In another match ITBP beat Andhra 2-0 scoring once in each half. The first goal was scored by Praveen Thiru in the 22nd minute and the second was scored by Kulwinder Singh off a penalty stroke in the 61st minute.

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