A fighting Indian Railways dominated the proceedings and held the fancied Indian Airlines for almost an hour but the defending champions pumped three goals in the last 13 minutes to lift the Rangaswami Cup with a 3-0 verdict in the final of the 60th National Hockey Championship at the KK Hakhu astroturf stadium here on Saturday.

In a fast-paced match, Indian Railways played to a plan and denied space to the Indian Airlines which had an array of experienced stars among its line-up. Railways held ball possession and made a series of raids upfront with forwards Suleiman, Jagmohan and Chanderpal doing the hardwork but they failed to give finishing touches at the all-important end.

Railways defenders Anup Tirkey and Bikramjit Singh stood like a Himalayan barrier in the defence to thwart the attempts of celebrated Indian Airlines attack which consisted of Olympians Mukesh Kumar, Brojen Singh and Samir Did.

After Railways held upperhand till midway through the second session, Airlines earned the second and last of their short corners in the 57th minute and it was once again skipper Dilip Tirkey, who put them ahead. Tirkey’s direct shot went in like a bullet to stun the Railway goalkeeper Ambuj Srivastav and the floodgates were opened.

In the last four minutes, Airlines made it 3-0 with two classic goals. In the 31st minute, Mukesh Kumar did the spade work and sent a cross to Samir Dad in the circle from the right and Samir with a clean first-time slap shot found Brojen Singh near the goal. Brojen in a flash deflected for the second goal.

In the last minute, Mukesh himself gave finishing touches to a cross from Altaf-ur-Rehman to round it up 3-0.

60th Senior National Championships-2000

Exchange of Blows at Jammu on day III:
Three Yellow Cards in One Match.
Frayed tempers and rough tackles were the order of the day. The third day of the second phase of the 60th Senior National Hockey Championships saw six players getting marching orders at the KK Hakhu Stadium here on Sunday. In an incosequential match between Hyderabad and Indian Oil Corporation, a frustrated Hyderabad after trailing 5-0 gave went to their feelings and indulged in unsportive behaviour which resulted in international Deepak Thakur suffering a bleeding wound on the face. The nippy forward struck four goals in a row and after his fourth strike became of victim of rough play when a Hyderabad player used his to hit the star striker instead of scoring goals. Fortunately, international umpires Blaise Monteiro and Md Muneer quick handling of things brought things under control. Hyderabad’s defender Manoj Singh and I Minz were given marching orders by Blaise Monteiro after they heckled and traded blows with Deepak and Deepak too was sent off after he tried to retaliate. Later, there was trouble at the bench when Deepak walked off the field to take treatment for the bleeding cut he sustained on the upper lip. Hyderabad Manager K Arjun Kumar objected to it and Md Muneer who had to interven made Deepak sit at the table while the doctors are attending on him. While IOC coach AK Bansal maintained that an injured player can leave the field for treatment, Arjun Kumar quoted rules that a suspended player cannot leave the `sin bin’. However, Md Muneer explained saying that a player can leave for treatment only with the permission of the Tournament Director and in this case the injury was not very serious and hence the player was asked to remain in his chair. Three more yellow cards were flashed in two other matches on the day

Scribe “manhandled”

The CM’s visit had its side-effects too. The strict secuirty meant that a local reporter of a national daily was not allowed to witness the matches. The Indian Express reporter Mr Chander Sharma was allegedly manhandled by a sub-inspector and was not permitted to enter the ground. The furious local Press decided to boycott the tournament but the matter was solved amicably when the matter was brought to the organisers notice.

`More Officials than players’

Dr. Farooq Abdullah, chief minister of J&K surprised many in his address delivered at the fag end of Wednesday. The charismatic leader who drives his vehicle own said: “I know in every world meet, more officials go than players. There is more politics in sports. Its politics and sycophants who play spoilsport in India. If these thing are cleared, the sports especially hockey will come up”.

Security at peak

The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Dr Farooque Abdullah paid a flying visit to the Hockey stadium on Tuesday. The Chief Minister who was instrumental in Jammu getting the astro-turf spent a few minutes at the ground before the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab teams clashed. As a result the security at the KK Hakhu Stadium was tightened on Tuesday. The huge iron gate which was kept shut for most of the time was sur