Railways to meet Air India in semifinals

By Our Hockey Correspondent

Airlines 3 -- TN Colts 2

(QF) Railways 6 -- Karnataka 2

(QF) Air India 1 (5) -- TN 1 (4)

CHENNAI, AUG. 21. Neither of the quarterfinals in the Madras Cricket Club-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Tuesday rose above the plane of mediocrity. But the contrast of the outcome was striking with one encounter stretching into a tie-breaker that resulted in favour of Air India, and the other proving to be a damp squib despite a hat-trick by Chander Pal of the Railways.

There was a touch of controversy in the final minutes of the second match when international Gavin Ferreira was shown the red card presumably for a misdemeanour at the conclusion of the game. He had a yellow card suspension during the extra-time.

Circumspection beyond a degree can be counter productive as the encounter between last year's runner-up Tamil Nadu and Air India proved. True, there were pulsating periods in the last quarter when Tamil Nadu made an intense fight for the winner with Air India forcing a spate of penalty corners. But the hockey on view lacked the vibrancy associated with the contestants.

Air India held the initiative early, thanks to a few bursting runs down the line by Rajesh Chauhan supported well from Davinder Kumar. In fact this combination provided the lead with Rajesh Chauhan giving the finishing touches to a cross from Davinder. Prompted well from the mid-field by Gavin Ferreira and Surinder Kundu, the front-line managed to fork up some pressure.

Inconsistent despite being incisive, the Tamil Nadu attack, led again by the irrepressible Prabhakar, clearly stretched the Air India defence. On the stroke of half-time, the equaliser came, Vinod sounding the boards off a cross from Muthukumaran.

None could dominate in the second half, though Tamil Nadu created more chances. Goal-keeper Mascarenhas thwarted attempts by Vinod and Diwakar. A terrific shot by Chauhan was also saved by Tamil Nadu goal-keeper Rajesh. The extra-time produced nothing noteworthy and the tie, inevitably, moved into a tie-breaker.

For Air India, Kishore Kumar, Kundu, Ajay Kumar, Tete and Sonu scored while Nagendran, Govindaraj, Padmanaban and Radhakrishnan succeeded for Tamil Nadu.

Air India will take on Indian Railways in the semifinals on Friday. Who among the four-IHF Juniors, Indian Airlines, Punjab and Sind Bank and Bharat Petroleum will take the next two slots in the last four is to be determined on Wednesday.

Karnataka disappoints

It could have passed off for a first division league match than a quarterfinals in a premier tournament. The tennis score for Karnataka dented its reputation enormously, especially after the manner in which the team had prevailed over Air India in the league phase to top the pool.

That, however, should in no way take the merit away from the win recorded by the Railways, whose front-line made merry in the rival area taking advantage of the innocuous Karnataka defence.

The man of the match, undoubtedly, was the compactly built Chander Pal, netting a well deserved hat-trick. Quick on the ball and unleashing shots from all conceivable angles, Chander Pal terrorised the defence no end after Mukhtiar Singh broke the monotony that had lasted over 28 minutes in the first half.

Encouraged by this, Railways intensified pressure even as the Karnataka defence caved in. Chander Pal struck two quick goals, the second one coming from a neat lob into the net, a la tennis style. Railways led 3-0 at half-time, raising doubts about Karnataka making a match of it.

As though to counter that line of thinking, Karnataka produced a splendid goal out of a back-hander from Anup Antony off a Krishna Reddy pass. Even as optimism began among the Karnataka supporters, disaster struck. B. Singh darted in to provide a perfect pass to Chander Pal for the hat-trick and served another excellent one for Jamsher Singh to put the issue beyond doubt.

Railways soon rubbed it, Iqbal Singh netting the sixth goal. A minute before end, came the goal by Anup Antony but by then everything had been lost for Karnataka.

Colts stretches Airlines

In the morning, the Tamil Nadu Colts continued its good showing forcing the seasoned Indian Airlines to fight till the last with a goal by Mohammad Riaz determining the outcome in Pool C. With three points from two matches Airlines finished second to Bharat Petroleum which won both its matches.

TN Colts, despite a heart-warming performances in the two matches, had to be content with the last slot without a point.

Airlines was off the mark through Virender Singh but the Colts hit back to level through Palanivel Nathan. Airlines forged ahead again when Mukesh Kumar struck only to see Alfred Aseer restoring parity. The match-winner came from Mohammad Riaz.

Thursday is a rest day. The semifinals will be played on Friday (Aug. 24) and the final on Saturday (Aug. 25).

Wednesday's matches: Quarterfinals: IHF Juniors vs. Indian Airlines (1-30 p.m.); Punjab and Sind Bank vs. Bharat Petroleum (3-45 p.m.).

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