Date:26/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/26/stories/2004042605131800.htm

Sport - Football

AG Tamil Nadu and DGACR through to final

CHENNAI, APRIL 25. Host AG Tamil Nadu and defending champion DGACR, New Delhi, will contest the final of the IA and AD inter-zone football tournament at the Nehru stadium on Monday.

In the semifinals on Sunday, the Delhi team ousted AG Manipur 2-0 while Tamil Nadu went past a strong AG West Bengal 5-4 via the tie-breaker after the two teams finished goalless at the end of regulation time.

Hitender Rawat gave DGACR the lead in the 45th minute. Twenty minutes later Manipur's Rajendra Singh's indiscriminate tackle on Sameer Jung brought up a penalty. Jung himself scored to consolidate the position.

The other semifinal was closely contested. In the tiebreaker, goalkeeper Saravanan was the hero for Tamil Nadu, converting a kick and bringing off a brilliant save to take out West Bengal, which had a sprinkling of national players. Selvakumar, Muthu, Johnson, Justus Antony and Saravanan scored for Tamil Nadu while Prasanjit Paul, Gunabir Singh, Manoharan and Dipankar Biswas scored for the loser.