Indian Navy clinch a 4-3 thriller against Hyderabad XI

Indian Navy might have won their previous match against Mumbai Customs, but their coach PL Murugappan was more satisfied with his teams performance on Tuesday when they handed Hyderabad XI 4-3 defeat in a thrilling encounter in the eighth All India Guru Tegh Bahadur hockey tournament, organized by Mumbai Hockey Association at the Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday.

“They simply did not play well in the last as they played more of an individual game, however, I am happy this time they played as a team that helped us reaching the quarters,” said Murugappan, whos been coaching the Indian Navy team for the past two years.

It was a see-saw contest as both looked equal in terms of strength and weaknesses. But most of the time Hyderabad dominated the proceedings. Navy did well to overcome Hyderabads challenge every time they scored a goal. For Navy, Ajay Kumar came to rescue with a brace while Surendra Kumar and AH Haque netted one apiece for the winners. On the other hand, Hyderabads Prabhakar Singh scored twice and Chengappa rounded off the tally for the southern outfit.

“Our boys really did a good job today and if they keep playing like this we can make the finals of the tournament. It was a good contest and both the team played attacking hockey. It could not be predicted that who is going to win and our boys do well to comeback from behind and defeat Hyderabad,” he added.

The Navy outfit did have enough match practice in the last few months. “After Gold Cup we played only one tournament i.e. the Mumbai Hockey Championship organized by MHA. But we have been doing fitness and weight training sessions so our players are quite fit. We have also got few new players in the side hence we are looking forward for a good season” Murugappan added.

Results: Indian Navy 4 (Ajay Kumar 1, AH Haque 1, Surendra Kumar 1) beat Hyderabad XI 3 (Prabhakar Singh 2, Chengappa 1); Mumbai Port Trust 3 (Vikram Yadav 1, Mumtaz Ahmed 1, Leonard Pereira) beat Maharashtra XI, Pune 0.