Chennai: A 39th-minute penalty corner conversion from Ashok Kumar helped ICF draw 1-1 with SAI ‘A’ in the IOB-CHA Super Six Premier League hockey tournament here on Sunday.
Having lost its opener to Southern Railway ‘A’ on Saturday, ICF couldn’t afford a second straight defeat. The portents looked grim when SAI went ahead in the 27th minute from a well-constructed move.
Siva Mani started it off with a jinking dribble through midfield, spinning away from two ICF defenders before laying off to Selvakumar, who drilled a searching ball into the ‘D’. Helped on by centre forward Nijanthan, the ball broke to Maria Stalin, who turned it home clinically.
SAI missed an odds-on chance to go 2-0 up three minutes from the restart, when Dhamu, one-on-one with ICF ‘keeper Udaya Kumar, failed to trap Sathaya Rajan’s perfectly-weighted pass. It proved costly, as ICF equalised in the very next minute. ICF continued surging forward and won numerous penalty corners, but came away with only a draw thanks to SAI goalkeeper Arun Prasath, whose reflexes denied efforts from Sarath Babu and Sathish Kumar.
Earlier, Southern Railway ‘A’ recorded its second win of the tournament, beating Indian Bank 1-0 thanks to Gauthaman’s 66th minute penalty corner conversion. — Sports Reporter