Karnataka goes on the rampage

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, NOV. 27. A.B. Subbaiah in the goal was not called upon to do anything while Jude Felix did nothing of worth in the 40 odd minutes that he played. Karnataka still had it in it to pump in nine goals without reply against Vidharbha in the Cluster B opener of the 60th Senior National hockey championship at the KSHA Stadium here on Monday.

In the day's second outing, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was far from impressive but registered three full points with a 4-1 win over Pondicherry.

Pondicherry may not have caused ripples in the National event, but comprising of boys from the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the pluck and poise that the south team has been showing over the years cannot be discounted. Today Pondicherry not only equalised after being a goal down but showed enough vivacity, but in the end the overall superiority of the CISF men counted.

CISF owed its victory to the incisiveness of Cyril Ekka. The speedy spearhead weaved his way through repeatedly and although did not add his own name in the scorers list, set up the ball for the three of the four goals that his team accounted for.

In the ninth minute, Cyril found Mangra Munda near the left post following CISF's first penalty corner and the latter scooped home in a jiffy.

In the 23rd minute, Pondicherry's perseverance paid off as Anandhabalan pushed home after S. Chandrashekar's penalty corner drive rebounded off goalkeeper Rajiuddin's pads. But its joy was short-lived as CISF breached the rival defence once again through the same combination, with Munda catching the goalkeeper on the wrong foot with his turn of speed before essaying a crisp drive.

After the change of ends, CISF not only managed to keep Pondicherry under check but also netted twice more through Parteek Kumar and captain G.V. Xaxa. Pondicherry custodian E. Kumaressan effected atleast three brilliant saves to keep the scoreline down.

Earlier, Karnataka began rather tentatively due to lack of co- ordination among the forwardline. Although Laxman Rao gave a rousing start with an angular shot into the net in the fourth minute, there was little to enthuse about Karnataka's sorties. But things began to happen once Prakash Chalke came in for Anup Anthony. The versatile forward not only created openings but also got into the scoring act to simply take the sting out of Vidharbha side.

A.K. Kavin and Chalke, both of whom got three goals apiece, spreadeagled the rival defence with their speedy runs and ball control. While Jude Felix initiated the second goal, he played too withdrawn, and with P. Shanmugham seen more on the defensive role it was left to junior international Arjun Halappa to initiate the moves which the frail lad did with elan.

Kavin reverse hit a Chalke cross in the 26th and then turned scorer deflecting in a K.P. Dinesh centre (3-0) before half time.

There was no let up for Vidharbha in the second session as K.M. Sommaiah, A.K. Kavin, Arjun Halappa (off the ninth penalty corner), A.K. Kavin converted in that order before Chalke sealed the margin with two snap efforts.

Tuesday's matches: PSB vs Pondicherry (2.45 p.m); Karnataka vs CISF (4.30 p.m).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Tamil Nadu thrashes M.P.
Next     : Railways runs over Andhra