PSB win Liberals hockey

Punjab and Sind Bank, Jalandhar (PSB) defeated Western Railway Mumbai 3-1 to win the All-India Liberals Cup Hockey tournament here on Sunday. In the final played at the PPS Grounds the bankmen dominated the first half and went up by two goals.

The team from Mumbai regrouped after the break and made some attacking moves one of which was rewarded with a penalty corner. Western Railway converted this corner to pull one back. With the scoreline reading 2-1 in favour of PSB and the Mumbai outfit gaining in confidence the match seemed headed for an exciting finish.

But the Jalandhar team pounced on a lose pass by Western Railway and rammed home the third goal to seal the fate of the match. 23 teams took part in this 35th edition of Liberals Cup and winners PSB received the first prize of Rs 61,000.

The President of the organising committee Gurkaran Singh was confident that more top teams will participate in the tournament next year as they will spare no effort in bringing an astroturf to this venue.

“The state administration has promised to help us in this regard and I’m quite sure that we will be getting a synthetic turf here soon and that will do wonders to the tournament,” he said.