Mumbai sweats for victory

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI, NOV.28. Mumbai received another jolt from Gujarat before winning 7-4, its second laboured back-to-back victory in Pool D of the 60th National hockey championships, organised by the Bombay Hockey Association at the Mahindra stadium.

Later, new entrant Indian Oil, playing its first match after the Nehru Cup triumph, was on the verge of losing to Central Reserve Police Force, trailing 1-2 in the second half against a team playing with nine players before goals from Sunil Yadav and Prabhjyot Singh in the closing stages made possible a 3-2 victory. Maharashtra won 2-1 against Tatas Sports Club in another tie.

Gujarat, with no hockey tradition worth the name, was a never-say-die unit and not surprisingly, pulled level with Mumbai 2-2 after being two goals down 20 minutes into the match. Led by Shashi Gorade who gave an inspirational performance as the skipper, Gujarat even went ahead 3-2 in the 29th minute before Mumbai recovered its composure and the offense, strengthened by the inclusion of Olympian Gagan Ajit Singh, capitalised on the chances to ensure a 7-4 verdict at the final whistle.

Mumbai skipper Sabu Varkey, despite another standout performance, has plenty to worry about. The host converted two of the 12 penalty corners, cohesion remains a problem area and the manner in which Gujarat's inexperienced, though gutsy forwards got through the defence will not have escaped the attention of Indian Oil, CRPF and Tatas. Gujarat's Nisar Garasia, who struck two slick field goals, while Dinesh Kadam and skipper Gorade were the others who managed to get the better of P.U. Bopanna in the Mumbai goal.

Skipper Varkey put Mumbai ahead in the 13th minute off a penalty corner, followed by a field goal from Gurmeet Singh Rao. Then it was Gujarat's turn to shock the few Mumbai supporters who had turned up for the morning match with three more field goals. The host converted another penalty corner through Shayne D'Costa to draw level at 3-3, surged ahead through goals from M.K. Prakash and Gagan Ajit (5-3). Garasia, a playmaker who may revel in higher company, reduced the margin (5- 4) before Mumbai hammered in two more through Gagan Ajit and Leonard Pereira to seal an unconvincing victory.

CRPF, for whom Jolen Topno played an outstanding game, forced 11 penalty corners against just three by Indian Oil, an indication of the former's domination. Topno, a wiry and tireless playmaker, wove his way from the centreline through the entire rival defence on two occasions, won numerous penalty corners and even had the stamina left to assist the defence when S.K.Vashist and Trilok Ram had to sit out due to yellow cards shown by umpire Ranjit Dalvi, at his assertive best as usual.

Inderjeet Singh put Indian Oil ahead in the seventh minute, but the fit CRPF squad, defending well and working the ball into empty spaces in the midfield, fought back through opportunistic goals from V Hembram and Topno, both scoring past international goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan. Prabhjyot converted a penalty stroke, awarded for a foul on Lakhwinder Singh, beating the CRPF goalkeeper with a stiff, low shot to the right for the match- winner.

Maharashtra's goals came through Santosh Musale and Antony Marks, while Asad Khan reduced the margin for Tatas, both teams having lost one match so far.

Wednesday's matches: Maharashtra vs CRPF (11.00 am); Gujarat vs Tatas (2.00 pm) and Indian Oil vs Mumbai (4.00 pm).

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Section  : Sport
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