ONGC clinch thriller

As Vikas stood his ground, gently placing the ball with the stick and throwing behind it all the strength that he could gather at the moment, it seemed that was the defining moment for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation outfit. The sweet sound of the wood had sent the team into jubilation and it seemed they had put their feet into the final. However, that was not to be as Indian Oil Corporation’s Raghunath spoilt the party by netting the equaliser just a minute later to take the match into a tie-breaker.

Suddenly, the ONGC team who were earlier in a winning postion, found themselves on the backfoot and it was some good show by their custodian that they were able to take a deep breath but not before the match had its nervous moments. In the end, the smiles returned on ONGC players face as they prevailed over a determined IOC team by 8-7 to enter the final of the 40th SN Vohra All India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament held at the Sector 42 hockey stadium on Wednesday.

In a do-or-die battle, both the teams pressed hard and indulged in attacking game right from the beginning. It wasn’t until the tenth minute of the match that there was change in the score-board. Hamza was the man on target as he scored a superb field goal to put the IOC team into lead. Barely five minutes had passed, when the IOC midfielders once again weaved their magic and ran into the opposition defence.

Earning a penalty corner was enough as Deepak successfully converted the penalty to double the lead for the IOC team. ONGC, who were unable to come up with something noteworthy, regrouped their energies and made an attakc on the IOC goal which paid rich dividends to them. Jagwant surged ahead and scored a field goal to reduce the deficit for the ONGC team. Preet was also on target as he sounded board with a field goal in the 26th minute to make it 2-2 for ONGC. After the breather, Tryon put the ONGC team into lead with a field goal in the 50th minute. Inderjit once again restored parity for IOC.

In the dying minutes, both the teams made numerous attacks and on one such occassion, Vikas was able to find a goal through a penalty corner in the 68th minute. However, Raghunath equalised just one minute later. In the tie-breaker, ONGC maintained their cool and won the match by 8-7. In another semi-final match, Army XI got the better of Punjab and Sindh bank by 2-1 to reach the final. It was Ehazar who opened the account for Army XI through a field goal in the 26th minute. The Army team soon extended their lead when Armugam scored a field goal to make it 2-0 in the 50th minute. Parminder reduced the deficit for PSB in the 54th minute.