Army XI retain ‘Babu’ hockey trophy

Defending champions Army XI, Bengaluru defeated Punjab National Bank, Delhi 2-1 in the final to claim the winner’s trophy of the 32nd All India KD Singh ‘Babu’ memorial hockey tournament at Dhyan Chand Stadium, Lucknow on Thursday.

The final was a keenly-contested battle. Army XI forward Poovanna broke the ice in the 15th minute through a penalty-corner. Dodging defenders skilfully Damandeep Singh struck the equaliser in the 23rd minute. No more goals could be scored for a major portion of the second-half. Mukesh Lakra of Army XI made no mistake in capitalising on a penalty-corner awarded to his team in the 61st minute to make the score 2-1 which was maintained till the final moments of the play. In all, Army XI got five penalty-corners (PCs) out of which it made use of two such opportunities while PNB Delhi got one PC.

In the match to decide the third place, Namdhari XI, Ludhiana beat Northern Railway, Amritsar 4-0. Gurmeet Singh scored a goal in the 5th minute to impart a 1-0 lead to his team. In the 25th minute, he struck another goal through a penalty-stroke. Sukhchain Singh (27th minute) scored apiece just two minutes later to make the score 3-0 at the breather. In the 48th minute Gurpreet Singh found the target to ensure 4-0 win for the Namdhari XI team. Winners Army XI and runners-up PNB became richer by Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively, while, Namdhari XI were awarded a sum of Rs 25,000. E Lakra of Army XI was declared ‘Best player of the tournament’ while Abhinav Kumar Pandey of Sports Hostel, Lucknow while CS Xalxo of Army XI, Ajitesh of PNB Delhi and Gurmeet Singh of Namdhari XI were adjudged ‘Best Goalkeeper’, ‘Best Fullback’, ‘Best Forward’ and ‘Best half’, respectively.