GURGAON: Army XI pipped South Central Railway (SCR) 3-2 to emerge as the champion in the 20th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.
SCR seized the initiative when Gursev Singh converted a penalty stroke in the 10th minute. However, it failed to sustain the momentum as the Armymen made several raids.
The equaliser came nine minutes later as Sunil Ekka tapped in the ball off a rebound. Nevertheless, Army XI was found wanting in execution and spoiled several good moves.
A spectacular goal by Jerome Kujur in the 31st minute helped Army XI go into the half-time with a 2-1 lead. Ratesh Kumar fired a cross from the right and Kujur dived forward to put it in.
Army XI frittered away another set of chances before Elaizer Lakra put it in from a goalmouth melee following a penalty corner earned in the 52nd minute.
Despite trailing 1-3, SCR never gave up the battle. After the hard work of left-half Belsajar Horo and forward Mayank James went futile, K.K. Bharath banked on Chengapa’s apt cross from the right to reduce the margin.
However, the excitement in the SCR camp was short-lived as the hooter was sounded after a couple of minutes.
Bharath emerged as the top-scorer of the tournament, while Lakra got the man of the tournament award.