The Hindu : Tamil Nadu upsets Indian Railways

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 08, 2002

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Tamil Nadu upsets Indian Railways

BANGALORE April 7. Tamil Nadu posted an upset victory over the more fancied Indian Railways in the U & I Champions Trophy at the Karnataka State Hockey Association stadium here on Sunday.

Trailing by a goal (1-2) at the half time, Tamil Nadu combined cohesively and competently in the second half to emerge worthy winners with a final score line of 4-2.

Indian Railways flattered to deceive commencing the proceedings with a swooping effort within the first four minutes. Chander Pal collecting a cross from Iqbal Singh hoodwinked Tamil Nadu's goalkeeper G. Natarajan. However Tamil Nadu's skipper, national player Thirumalvalvan, soon brought his side on level scores. With a breezy run from the mid-field Thirumalvalvan dribbled adroitly past the Railway defence and slammed the ball past Ambuj Srivastava.

Railways steamed ahead in the 22nd minute with a goal off its second penalty corner. Brijnev Singh was quick to cash in on the rebound from Navsher Singh's first essay.

But the second half presented a different picture. Tamil Nadu's players closed ranks effectively and began to attack relentlessly.

Prabhakaran made amends for an earlier lapse scoring off a penalty corner in the 50th minute to again bring the scores back on par. Four minutes later Vimala Nathan streaked in from the left flank to pounce on a rebound from Prabhakar's scorching drive, which was blocked by Ambuj Srivastava, and direct the ball cleanly into the net.

Railways by now had run out of steam and looked a clearly beaten side. The ignominy was further compounded as two minutes before the final whistle Tamil Nadu capitalised on another penalty corner with Thirumalvalvan's first hit off a Rajani dummy being stopped by Ambuj. Jagan Senthil ensured that the rebound found its way into the Railway goal.

Earlier in the first match of the day, Karnataka scored its second win in the tournament defeating Indian Hockey Federeation XI 2-0. Prakash Chalke neatly collected a rebound off Rama Rao's first attempt and notched up the first goal. Two minutes before the first half ended Lakshman Rao, well positioned to receive a pass from Mandanna, brought up the second and final goal.

Air India began its campaign in the Raghavendra Itigi memorial tournament with a hard fought 3-2 win over Central Industrial Security Force. Air India started off the scoring proceedings in the 11th minute with Davinder Kumar being successful. CISF fought back with Mangra Munda netting a rebound from Prateek Kumar's effort. Air India's attacking play resulted in Roshan Tete collecting a cross from Deepak Kumar and relaying the ball into the CISF goal. Four minutes later the roles were reversed and Deepak Kumar deflected a cross from Roshan Tete into the goal. CISF managed to reduce the margin of defeat with Mangra Munda getting his brace off Prateek Kumars playmaking.

In the final match of the day, Altaf-Ur Rehman with the help of two penalty strokes scored the first three in a row in the tournament. Altaf's first penalty stroke was when Ignatius Tirkey was struck on the legs in the Army goal area and umpire Shellar awarded the stroke.

Altaf scored gain in the 46th minute and five minutes later was gain taking a penalty stroke to make it 3-0 for Indian Airlines. Dileep Tirkey scored off a penalty corner in the 64th minute to make it a comprehensive victory for Indian Airlines.

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