Date:02/04/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/04/02/stories/2003040203141800.htm

Sport - Hockey

IOC meets BSF in final

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA APRIL 1. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) continued its march forward disposing of former champion Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB) 5-4 via tie-breaker in the semifinals of the 108th Beighton Cup hockey here at the Mohun Bagan ground on Tuesday. IOC will meet Jallandhar team, Border Security Force (BSF), which again took the path via penalties to get past Army XI 5-3, in the final on Wednesday.

Playing against the favourite PSB, IOC took the initiative scoring early. Kamlesh Kumar converted a penalty corner in the 24th minute giving IOC the lead at the half time. Mounting repeated pressure against a defensive IOC, PSB came back in the second session fetching the equaliser as Sharanjit Singh converted from a penalty corner in the 54th minute.

The 1-1 deadlock endured both the regulation and the 15 minutes of extra time forcing the tie-breaker. The tie-breaker again favoured IOC as PSB paid a heavy price for a miss-push by Sharanjit Singh during the shoot-outs. On the other hand the IOC players netted all the five strokes and wrapped the match 6-5 to move in to the final in its very first appearance in the tournament.

In the shoot-outs, Bikramjit Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Deepak Thakur and Khushmeet Singh scored for IOC while Ajitpal Singh, Rajbir Singh, Jatinderpal Singh and Harpreet Singh netted for PSB.

In the other semifinal, BSF took an early lead in the fifth minute through Christopher Ekka who scored from a penalty corner. There after it was over to the Army, which attacked relentlessly but failed to equalise till a few minutes before the hooter as Avtar Singh found the target in the 63rd minute.

After the extra-time failed to resolve the deadlock, the BSF players made no mistake in converting the strokes in the tie-breaker. Army XI, which saw its shooting problems continuing in the tie-breakers, wasted two shots to concede a 2-4 defeat.

The armymen cut a sorry figure failing to utilise any of the 16 penalty corners being awarded to them in the match. In the tie breakers, BSF skipper Harbhajan Singh netted the first before Davinder Kumar, Christopher Ekka and Sushil Kumar converted their chances in the order.

Avtar Singh and Harpreet Singh scored for the armymen, but C.S. Khalko and Sanjay Routh missed the target.