The Hindu : Air-India edges out ONGC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Air-India edges out ONGC

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI APRil 21. Tushar Khandekar's 68th minute match-winner came out of the blue for Air-India, enabling the defending champion edge out a talented, spirited Oil & Natural Gas Commission side 3-2 in an action-packed pre-quarterfinal of the 40th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey tournament on Sunday. The winner will meet Central Industrial Security Force in the quarterfinals.

Punjab & Sind Bank outlasted Bombay Customs 2-0 in the first match played in torrid heat at the Mahindra stadium, setting up a clash against Bharat Petroleum for a semi-final place.

Air-India, playing without deflection specialist Edward Aranha, missed the ace striker's sharpness up front. The other forwards worked hard against a robust ONGC defence, but the lack of a cutting edge in the offence was apparent. The match between these two attacking sides turned out to be a thriller, highlighted by lightening counter-attacks and zonal marking due to yellow cards flashed by umpire Ranjit Dalvi. Twice in the match, both teams were reduced to 10-players. The latter had the edge; the former got the goals that mattered.

Roshan Tate got a close look at the ONGC goal, but was unable to get past goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh, who last season was playing for Air India. The Mumbai side looked up to international Anil Aldrin to deliver after forcing four penalty corners inside 25 minutes. But the ONGC goalkeeper blocked the strapping defender from scoring with a fierce, high hit off the rebound after a direct hit.

Both sides were forced to rework their defensive tactics after ONGC's international Anuraj Raghuvanshi got the yellow for a clash with AI's tireless playmaker Vikram Pillay. The Mumbai side was rendered a player short when defender Khushmeet Singh was given temporary suspension orders a minute later.

The game continued at a fast pace, with ONGC more effective in the attacks due to its players' ability to get around the hard-tackling rivals. No goals were scored in this phase as both teams were settling down following the return of Raghuvanshi and Khusmeet when AI took the lead again in the 46th minute. Tate pulled the ball back after a forceful run down the left almost up to the goalline. Khandekar swooped on the ball but his fierce hit saw ONGC goalkeeper Kamaldeep responding with a reflex save after quickly getting into position. The ball rolled within range of Kishore Kumar who tapped in.

ONGC's spirited efforts to reduce the margin suffered a setback when Vivek Gupta needlessly collected a yellow card, picking up the ball after an infringement award against his side. Undeterred by the decision, the Dehradun side continued its offensive. The AI defence was punished for a foul on Amarjeet Pratap in the 53rd minute, Raghuvanshi cooly beating Adrian D'Souza under the bar. Aldrin then collected a yellow for showing dissent at umpire Dalvi's penalty corner decision, ONGC's sixth of the match. The equaliser came minutes later, a rasping Amarjit hit resulting in the ball striking the right post and bouncing inwards where Gurpreet was in position to tap home.

Amarjit missed an opportunity to put ONGC ahead, hitting wide after being put through by Sandeep Sangwan. The AI defence struggled to get its act together in this frenetic final phase, Aldrin watching the action from his seat near the technical table when team-mate Khandekar scored against the run of play to clinch a hard-earned victory and a place in the last eight.

PSB's pre-quarterfinal against local side Bombay Customs was a pedestrian affair in comparison, though the torrid heat took its toll on both sides. The bankmen won on the strength of their experience and far superior ability to hold onto the ball, the inexperienced Customs combination doing the chasing.

Parminder Singh put PSB up in the sixth minute; sounding the boards after the Customs defence was in disarray following a passing bout on the right flank. His next goal came in the 68th minute, getting the ball past Customs goalkeeper Anson Thomas, who single-handedly saved eight penalty corners in succession in the second half.

PSB forced nine corners in all, but Rajinder Singh's direct hits made no impression on the hyperactive custodian. Stanley Fernandes covered a lot of ground for Customs, whose ploy of routing almost all moves through Olympian Rahul Singh robbed the attack of variety. The latter even collected a yellow card for delay in coming off during a rolling substitution.

The results (pre-quarterfinals): PSB 2 (Parminder Singh 2) bt Bombay Customs 0; Air-India 3 (Anil Aldrin, Kishore Kumar, Tushar Khandekar) bt ONGC 2 (Anurag Raghuvanshi, Gurpreet Singh).

Monday matches: Tatas vs C.Rly; IA vs Karnataka XI.

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