Express News Service15 Sep 2008 01:25:00 AM ISTCHENNAI: Air India edged Indian Oil Corporation 6-5 in the penalty shootout after the teams shared two goals in full time to lift the 84th All India Murugappa Hockey Gold Cup at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Sunday. While Air India converted all their five attempts, skipper Deepak Thakur failed to covert for IOC. But on the whole, there was little to chose between the two sides. Shivendra Singh may not enjoy as big a stature as Deepak Thakur, Rajpal Singh or Prabhjot Singh. But the Air India striker awe-struck them all with sporadic burst of ingenuity.
Not only was he fast bristling past IOC sticks, but also engineered a delightful goal for Air India. Literally storming past the IOC defence, hassle-free, relayed the ball to Bruno Logun, whose one-touch pass to Prabhod Tirkey was so precise that the latter just had to push the ball past a dazed Baljit Singh. The 47th minute goal was Air India’s equaliser.
Earlier, Indian Oil Corporation took the lead in the 32nd minute through VR Raghunath. Whereas, his opposite number Sandeep Singh had missed an early opportunity for Air India. Having not fully recovered from a viral fever, the ace drag-flicker was used sparingly. Air India earned two penalty corners when he was benched. While the first one, a hit, was adeptly saved by Baljit, the second was poorly executed.
In the second half of the extra-time, IOC recieved two penalty corners, while Sandeep squandered the first, AdrianD’Souza came to Air India’s rescue in the
second. But the second half was interestingly poised. Both sides were on the crouch for the winner.
However, the winner proved elusive and the match meandered into the extra time. Air India had an upperhand in the first half of the extra time and Jaswinder
Singh surgical pass found Halappa in a favourable position, but Halappa wasted so much time in pursuit of a better angle that he spilled the chance.
On the other end, Bharat Chikkara covered almost half the ground, but was wanting for support from fellow strikers. As is often the case with finals, a tinge of circumspection might have peeved into the players; psyche that they were more attuned to settle into rhythm than go berserk for a goal. Resultantly, the action was
not riveting.
Save for a penalty corner, IOC inspired more chances, though at a premium. But none of them could culminate into a goal and the exchanges were confined
to the midfield. It was even more intriguing that IOC’s forwards were bereft of agility and coordination
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