The Tribune: Match postponed as sprinkler stops working; Indian Oil beat RCF 7-4

Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

One match had to be rescheduled due to electricity issues before the Punjab women edged out North Central Railways to register their second win in the 33rd All India Surjit Memorial hockey tournament here today.
The ball stopped rolling on Sunday with the sprinkler system failing to work following a faulty electricity connection.

This development took the sting out of the day’s proceedings with the harried organisers having to reschedule the day’s card.
In the women’s section, Haryana were scheduled to take on Central Railways in the day’s first match, which was to begin at 2 pm. However, even as the players were warming up, they were asked to wait and were later told that their match was rescheduled.
The organisers struggled with the wires in an attempt to get the sprinkler system to work. The matches commenced two hours after the scheduled time.
The Punjab women, who kick-started their campaign yesterday with a 6-1 win over RCF (Kapurthala), struggled to a 1-0 win today.

The way individuals play as a whole determines a team’s success. A hockey squad may have the greatest bunch of individual stars but if they do not play in a cohesive manner, the team will not be worth a dime.
This, in essence, sums up the mediocre performance dished out by Punjab as their international stars — Navneet Kaur, Ritu, Manpreet Kaur, Navpreet Kaur and Gagandeep Kaur — failed to jell as a unit.

After the splendid display they put up yesterday, they played a lacklustre game today. Starting as favourites, they were expected to coast home comfortably but they managed to score just one goal through a penalty corner. The winner was scored by Reet Kaur after her scorching drive sounded the board with a thud.
In a thrilling match in the men’s section, Indian Oil defeated Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala) 7-4.