Cheetahs devour Strykers in World Series Hockey

PUNE: Jose Brasa got the better of his former assistant Gundeep Kumar as Chennai Cheetahs trounced Pune Strykers 3-1 in a World Series Hockey league match on Thursday.

Gundeep had worked with Brasa when the latter was coach of the Indian team for two years. But if the former India player had hoped to give the Spaniard a dose of his own medicine, he was disappointed as Chennai, who held Pune 3-3 in the first leg, raised the bar to emerge victorious.

To his credit, Gundeep was without his key players Bikash Toppo, Amit Gowda and Vikas Pillay, who are injured. Of course, that was only a sub-plot. The main theme of the evening was a team coached by a European playing attacking hockey.

With four Australians in the line-up – legendary Brent Livermore, Mark Harris, Kelly Peter and Joseph Reardon – Chennai played at breathtaking speed.

Chandigarh beat Delhi

Gurjinder Singh scored late in the second half to guide Chandigarh Comets to a narrow 1-0 win over Delhi Wizards in a round-robin match of the World Series Hockey in Delhi on Thursday.

Gurjinder scored the elusive winner by converting a penalty corner in the 64th minute to help the Chandigarh side move up in points table to the third position with 12 points.

Delhi looked sharper of the two sides in the beginning but their performance dipped as the match progressed. Chandigarh, on the other hand, took their time to get settled and were content to play the waiting game.