The Hindu: Hockey tournament: Arun saves HUTN’s blushes

By K. Keerthivasan

Bengaluru makes semifinals despite defeat

Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) scored a 1-0 victory over Bengaluru HA in a Pool A match of the 91st MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup all-India hockey tournament here on Thursday. Gnanavel’s penalty stroke, with seconds remaining for half-time turned out to be the winner.

Earlier, ONGC defeated Central Secretariat 2-0, to finish second in Pool B behind Punjab National Bank.

Tough task

Possessing a goal difference of minus 5 (before the match) to Bengaluru’s 0, HUTN needed to win by a six-goal margin. A tall order, indeed.

HUTN played deep, negating seven penalty corner strikes (out of eight) by V.R. Raghunath. The star of the day was HUTN goalkeeper Arun Prasadh, who saved at least half a dozen goals.

Bengaluru was on the offensive from the first minute, with Jenjen Singh providing the impetus. Bengaluru can consider itself unlucky as it completely dominated the proceedings, barring stray attacks by the host.

Arun’s best moment came in the 36th minute when he thwarted a penalty stroke by Raghunath. A withering grounder by the drag-flick specialist saw Arun stretching out his right leg in time to put the ball away.

He produced a couple of similar saves: a dangerous cross from the right by Shankar Patil was sticked away. Then with nine minutes remaining, he saved a firm push by Vikas Sharma.

Friday is a rest day.

The results:

Pool A: HUTN 1 (Gnanavel 35) bt Bengaluru HA 0; Pool B: ONGC 2 (Machaiah 12, Nilam Xess 61) bt Central Secretariat 0.

Semifinal line-up (Saturday): Railways vs ONGC; Punjab National Bank vs Bengaluru HA.

Points table (after the league matches, (Team, played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Pool A: Indian Railways 4, 4, 0, 0, 17, 5, 12; Bengaluru HA 4, 2, 0, 2, 9, 10, 6; HUTN 4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 8, 6; BPCL 4, 1, 0, 3, 7, 9, 3; PSB 4, 1, 0, 3, 4, 9, 3. Pool B: PNB 4, 4, 0, 0, 18, 5, 12; ONGC 4, 3, 0, 1, 16, 6, 9; Army XI 4, 1, 1, 2, 6, 13, 4; Hockey Odisha 4, 1, 1, 2, 10, 19, 4; Central Secretariat 4, 0, 0, 4, 4, 11, 0.