Sport - Hockey

Aiyamma powers BP to title win

NEW DELHI: Bharat Petroleum won the Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey title beating Indian Oil 5-4 with Amar Aiyamma striking thrice in an entertaining final at the Shivaji Stadium here on Wednesday.

Aiyamma was always on the prowl in the scoring area, pouncing on every opportunity that came his way. Aiyamma opened his account in the 20th minute on a long aerial pass from S.S. Gill. He collected the ball on the turn, tapped it to take control before surging up to score.

Bharat Petroleum had taken lead in the 11th minute when Ravi Pal Singh converted the second penalty corner with a clean hit. Indian Oil drew level six minutes later through captain Deepak Thakur after Bharat Petroleum’s custodian S. Singh failed to clear Roshan Minz’s shot. Thakur latched on to the rebound for 1-1.

Aiyamma came to life thereafter.

Bharat Petroleum had a 2-1 halftime lead. But, Indian Oil was never going to give up easily as Roshan Minz produced a gem of a goal from the left. Minz moved up beating two defenders and went almost in line with the post before cracking the ball in to the post for 2-2 in the 39th minute.

After Indian Oil defender Viren Rasquinha left him unattended for a while, Aiyamma got a ball from the right flank and the forward made no mistakes in smashing it in for 3-2 in the 46th minute.

After failing to score thrice, Deedar Singh finally got on the board off the fifth penalty corner earned by Indian Oil. Deedar’s drag-flick flew straight into the netting for 3-3 before Bharat Petroleum came up with two back-to-back goals.

First Jarnail Singh chanced on a pass from Hari Prasad. Jarnail veered towards the left to avoid defenders before he slotted the ball in. Aiyamma provided the further cushion in the 56th minute to almost take away the match from Indian Oil.

Tyron Pereira scored five minutes later to reduce the margin, but Rasquinha and Thakur’s hopes of finding an equaliser faded away.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu