Punjab Police makes final

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 14. The first semifinals in the U & I hockey tournament was an edge-of-the-seat affair. The rivals, Indian Airlines and Punjab Police, displayed excellent skills both in attack and defence but Punjab Police made better use of the opportunities that came its way to eke out a thrilling 3-2 win over its rival. Punjab Police will meet the winner of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited-IHF Juniors clash in the final slated for Monday (April 16).

Indian Airlines started brilliantly with Altaf-ur Rehman grabbing the spotlight off the very first penalty corner in the sixth minute. But the team failed to capitalise on the next three penalty corners it earned in the first half.

And despite the stronger showing by Airlines in this session Punjab Police managed to level the scores at the stroke of the first hooter. Punjab Police made a strong move up towards the Airlines goal and Jagbir Singh sent in a rasping drive which Jagdish Ponappa stopped, but not so cleanly. With the ball rolling dangerously close to the goal Ponappa made a clearance with his gloves pushing the ball out of play. Umpire Blaze Monterio promptly blew the whistle to signal a penalty stroke. Punjab Police's skipper Baljeet Singh Dhillon successfully scooped the ball into the right corner of the net.

After the break, Indian Airlines made some attacking moves. In the 47th minute Altaf-ur Rehman raised hopes of a second goal, swiftly breaking through the defence but a hurried push towards the goal was easily deflected by Manpreet Singh.

Two minutes later Sameer Dad made a perfect cross to Altaf on the right side but his effort was gloved out.

The action now shifted towards the Airlines goal. Punjab Police made a couple of strong moves but some faulty trapping from Tejveer Singh Lucky even earned a reprimand from Baljeet Singh. Punjab Police's second goal was a masterpiece. Brothers Baljeet Singh and Daljeet Singh moved up with some precision passing in the 54th minute. Baljeet finally relayed to Daljeet and he struck cleanly from the edge of the circle splitting through the defenders and the goal-keeper.

However, Indian Airlines still had some fight left in it. The Olympians Mukesh Kumar and Dhanraj Pillay showed superb coordination in the 60th minute. Dhanraj moved up with the ball with Mukesh shadowing him in the centre. A timely pass from Dhanraj saw Mukesh in perfect position to author the second goal.

Punjab Police shored up its defence after this and Pargat Singh patrolled the goal area often single handedly to allow more attacking power.

Punjab Police came up trumps when it mattered most to seal a superb victory. Just two minutes before the close of the match Punjab Police bagged its fourth penalty corner. Balwant Singh struck first but Ponappa managed to stop the ball. Prabhdeep Singh seized the rebound and cleverly scored the match- winner.

Punjab Police's Avtar Singh (left) running in hard to stop Indian Airlines' Sameer Dad who is about to take a reverse hit in the U & I hockey semifinals in Bangalore on Saturday.

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