Tuesday, January 12, 2010: Defending champion Air India retain the title of the 9th All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament sponsored by Punjab & Maharashtra Co.Op.Bank played at the MHA Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate.

Air India upstaged ONGC by 5-0 margin in the finals while Indian Oil edged out local outfit Central Railway by 3-2 margin for the 3rd place ranking.

The airmen’s twice down came up with a dazzling performance especially in the last quarter of play time to dethroned ONGC who too displayed brilliantly though the margin suggest. The airmen started on a bright note Legend Dhanraj Pillay motivating and crafting excellent moves up front but strikers fumbling at the spot. ONGC on the other hand did not yet get into rhythm. However one superb move in the 26th minutes ONGC went into initial lead Jagwant Singh crisp reverse hit from the top of the ‘D’ went straight into the high nets giving no chance to airmen’s keeper Gurpreet Singh ( 1-0 ) two minutes later the airmen’s found the equalizer Sameer Dad & Dhanraj Pillay combined efforts from the 25 yards Sameer guided into the boards ( 1-1 ) .

After the breather ONGC got the momentum going as they went up immediately defender Baljinder Singh converted a direct penalty corner in the 36th minutes ( 2-1 ) . The airmen restore parity 11 minutes later a stunner goal Prabodh Tirkey’s direct hit Girish Pimpale deflecting from inside the ‘D’ top into the 18 inches boards (2-2). Thereafter the oilmen went all out for the winner while airmen keeping their cools generated brilliant moves which yielded them success skipper Sameer Dad (55th minutes) solo goal from acute angle, his second goal while his side’s 3rd (55th minutes) Dragflick exponent Len Aiyappa converted one penalty corner out of the four P.C earned in the 67th minutes (4-2) while Mathias Minz sounded the board in the deadend ( 70th minutes ) 5-2 to complete the tally for the fancied Air India .

In the hard-line match Indian Oil’s work hard to over come local outfit Central Railway by 3-2 margin. It was Central Railway who dished out brilliant display against their fancied rivals IOC. C.Rly twice they came back to pressurize IOC however in the end IOC emerge winners thanks the ace draf flicker Didar Singh who converted three penalty corners in the 30th, 44th & 65th minutes ). Deepak Lakara and Navneet Swarnakar reduced the margin for Central Railway.

Winners AI got Rs.1,25,000/- and a Glittering Trophy while runners-up ONGC got Rs. 75000/- and Indian Oil bagged Rs. 20000/-.

Gurpreet Singh of AI was awarded as the Best Goalkeeper, Tyron Pereira of ONGC got Best Defender award, veteran Sameer Dad of AI was declared best forward, while the drag-flicker Len Aiyappa was Player of the Tournament.