Date:06/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/06/stories/2006100607481800.htm

Sport - Hockey

Pillay takes IA into semifinals

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Dhanraj Pillay still has in him the magic to captivate hockey lovers. The 38-year-old has settled well into the role of a playmaker and executed his job to perfection as Indian Airlines defeated Border Security Force 5-2 and qualified for the semifinals of the 17th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Thursday.

Pillay scored one and had a hand in three others as IA registered its second straight win in Pool `A' to join Bharat Petroleum in the semis. The teams will meet in the last league match on Friday to decide the pool topper.

Varinderjit Singh gave BSF an early lead when he converted a penalty corner in the ninth minute. BSF held on to the lead till halftime before Pillay swung into action.

IA striker Brojen Singh equalised just after the break before Pillay (46th) showed he could still do the magic with the stick.

Controlling the midfield with élan, he created several moves and kept the IA forwards on their toes. Jalwinder Singh (51st) and Swaranjit Singh (54th) scored in quick succession to put IA 4-1 up before BSF pulled one back through Ranjit Singh's 61st minute strike.

In between, Pillay executed a brilliant pass that cut through three defenders for an unmarked Brojen Singh. The striker had just the goalkeeper to beat and he managed to do that, but finally shot the ball wide of the post.

Swaranjit completed the rout in the 62nd minute as IA won comfortably.

Namdhari shocks A-I

Later in the day, Namdhari XI shocked a depleted Air-India by a solitary goal to leave Pool `B' wide open. With one win and a draw, Namdhari is on top with Air-India a point behind with a win and a loss. Indian Oil has drawn its two matches and will play Air-India in the crucial league tie on Friday. Punjab National Bank is the fourth team in the pool.

With four international players, Ajmer Singh, Gurbej Singh, Gurvinder Chandi and Gurpreet Singh, attending the National camp for Asian Games, the depleted Air-India attack lacked penetration.

In fact, it was the defenders, who saved the day for Air-India with Girish Ganapathy and Bruno Lugun making crucial goal-line saves.

Both teams played cautiously earning one penalty corner each. Namdhari was lucky to convert through Gurpreet Singh in the 26th minute, while Len Aiyappa's indirect shot was well trapped by a Namdhari defender.

Thrilling win for Modern School

Defending champion Modern School, Barakhamba Road, scored a thrilling win against Salwan Public School as Aditya top scored with 21 points in the boy's section in the 17th Hans Raj Prabhakar memorial invitational basketball tournament here on Thursday.

The results: Modern School, Barakhamba Road, 73 (Aditya 21, Digvijay 19, Aviral 9) bt Salwan Public School 67 (Sahil 22, Ishaan 22); Montfort School 53 (Vikram 21, Raghav 10) bt Oxford School 36 (Vikas 12, Tej Singh 11); St. Columba's School 43 (Adrian 15) bt Sachdeva Public School 24 (Piyush 7).