Date:21/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/21/stories/2005012104012100.htm

Sport - Hockey

Third win for Chandigarh Dynamos

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, JAN. 20. Chandigarh Dynamos recorded its third straight win defeating Delhi Dazzlers 3-0 in the Tier II match of the inaugural Premier Hockey League championship at Gachibowli Complex here this afternoon.

In another match, Imphal Rangers scored its first win in three matches with a 5-1 win against Bengal Tigers.

Delhi hit by the absence of key players Anwar Khan and Prem Kumar, was rarely in the match. On the other hand, Chandigarh forwardline — captain Sukhbir Singh Gill, Rajpal Singh and Ravi Pal Singh — combined well with Harbanjan Singh donning the role of schemer. Chandigarh struck all three goals in the second quarter in the space of four minutes.

Ravi Pal Singh struck the first goal off a pass from Sukhbir Singh in the 30th minute. Within two minutes, Raj Pal Singh struck after a fine solo sprint beating a horde of defenders. Then, Raj Pal Singh displayed his shooting prowess with a fine reverse flick of a deflection from the goalkeeper Jasbir Singh who earlier failed to stop cleanly a free-hit taken from close to the D.

After this match, Chandigarh has nine points from three matches while, Delhi also nine but from four matches after this first loss.

Rangers too good

In the second match of the day, Imphal Rangers finally discovered winning form as it completely dominated a hapless Bengal Tigers. The Manipur outfit shot into lead in the 14th minute thanks to a lovely one-to-one effort between Brojen Singh and Gopal Singh with the latter scoring from a neat carpet drive from near top of the D. The equalizer by Bengal was the only saving grace for the team. It came of a lovely effort as first Arbind Kumar pushed the penalty-corner hit stopped by captain Iqbal Singh who cleverly relayed the ball back to the former who made no mistake in deflecting the ball into the goal. That was the only time when Bengal looked good.

In a swift counter-attack, Imphal forced a penalty-corner to increase the lead (2-1) when H. Thomba Singh was bang on target with a powerful shot. Within a couple of minutes, he again converted another penalty-corner to give a convincing 3-1 lead by the end of second quarter.

Thereafter, Imphal Rangers never really looked back. They struck twice through captain Brojen Singh and Shanta Kumar, both of direct penalty-corner hits. Imphal forced 11 penalty-corners while Bengal tigers five.