Sport - Hockey   

Western men, Northern women emerge champions

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI FEB 1. Former international Sandeep Kaur saved the defending champion from blushes, as she scored the lone goal of the match and helped Northern Railway lift the women's title in the all-India Railway hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Saturday.

In a high-quality match, Western Railway almost threatened to outsmart their Northern counterparts, but wee bit of ill-fate worked against the team from Mumbai.

The men's final also pitted the same teams, but in here the Westerners came good and dethroned the Northern Railway 3-1 in the tie-breaker.

Both the teams were tied goal-less even after the 15 minutes of extra time, but in the tie-breaker Western Railway's goalkeeper, Sairam Bishnoi, stood like a wall and crushed the hopes of the defending champion.

Among the two finals, women's title clash certainly generated more interest as 13 India players were on the show. Northern Railway had the services of eight of them, but still the younger lot, which featured for Western Railway, made a match of the contest.

Teenager Saba Anjum, who is playing her first season for Western Railway, was class apart. Controlling the right flank, Saba created several opportunities, but at the finish all the moves fizzled out. Saba's extra good work in fact made Westerners more depended on her and they practically ignored the left flank.

Centre forwards Sanggai Ibemhal Chanu and Pakpi Devi also helped in keeping up the pressure with seasoned Suraj Lata Devi in a role of a play-maker.

Western Railway's moves were foiled mainly by international full-backs Amandeep Kaur and Suman Bala. Northern Railway goal-keeper, Suman Deswal, was hardly challenged.

On the contrary, international goal-keeper Tingoliema Chanu was kept busy by the marauding Northern forwards. During the 70 minutes of the match, Tingoliema saved at least five such attempts on which any other custodian would have been beaten.

Probably, Western Railway made the cardinal mistake of concentrating on the Pritam Rani Siwach. Two markers were set aside of the former India captain, which left enough leeway for international Manjinder Kaur to make her moves.

On many occasions, Manjinder grabbed the ball in the middle and raced into the scoring area only to find Tingoliema. During one such attack, Tingoliema cleared the ball to Saba who paced fantastically towards the Northern Railway post. Sanggai backed Saba but failed to keep the pace with her and that effort ended bleakly.

Western Railway looked fatigued in the second half and that was when the Northerners decided to make the kill. After being bogged down by two markers, Pritam decided to break free. She generated maximum penalty corners for Northern Railway and in the 49th minute it was Sandeep Kaur who scored the winning goal.

Towards the end, Western Railway had two good chances to equalise and force the match into extra-time, but it was not to be.

Later in the men's final, Western Railway forwards Shivendra Singh, Ingo Singh and Prem Kumar Singh took the fight into the Northern Railway camp with gusto. The trio did good job even after their star striker Shanta Kumar pulled up leg muscle and limped out.

In fact both the team had their share of chances, but the goal and ball never met. Northern India expected too much from its centre-forward Rajiv Mishra, but he remained heavily marked.

Mishra did gave some glimpses of his famous stick-work, but it did not translate into any goals. After the 15 minutes of extra-time also failed to break the ice, tie-breaker was forced.

Gursevak Singh, captain Chandra Pal and Allan Barla scored for Western Railway, while only Ajinder Pal Singh could net for Northern Railway.

With Western Railway leading 3-1, Raju skied out the fourth penalty shot, handing the Mumbai team a well-deserved win.

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