The Hindu : IHF Juniors sails into semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2003

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Sport - Hockey

IHF Juniors sails into semifinals

By Our Hockey Correspondent

Arumugam of IHF Juniors (extreme left) exults after scoring the second goal. Raju (centre, who scored two goals) and Hari Prasad (extreme right) join the celebrations as Tamil Nadu XI's Dinesh Nayak and Thirumalvalan (6) look dejected in the MCC Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament in Chennai on Tuesday.

IHF Juniors 4 Tamil Nadu 1

Air India 1 Bhopal 0

Chennai July 15. Shrugging off the painfully noticeable lethargy in the earlier matches, the IHF Juniors displayed a note of aggression and athleticism in their approach to record a convincing victory against the Tamil Nadu XI and move into the semifinal of the Madras Cricket Club-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Tuesday.

That the team led 3-1 at half-time conveys the measure of its dominance, eventhough a trace of controversy enveloped the third goal credited to Raju.

IHF Juniors is scheduled to play in the semifinal on Friday, Air India, which recorded a narrow 1-0 win against Bhopal XI in a desultory contest that contained patches of insipid and interesting moments.

It was Vivek Gupta, the IHF Juniors' skipper, who kept the attackers on their toes with neat distribution. From the mid-field, Vivek controlled the trend and had the wingers busy almost right through. The stars in the line, Raju, Arumugam and Hari Prasad responded to the promptings enthusiastically giving the inconsistent Tamil Nadu defence a harrowing time.

It was an astute pass by Vivek in the early minutes that set the tone and tenor for the opening goal. Vivek ensured Biredra Lakra moved ahead neatly, and Hari Prasad capped the effort with a delectable flick to the roof of the net.

Egged on by this field goal, the IHF Juniors came in repeated sallies. A fierce hit by Navepreet Singh from a penalty corner was saved by goal-keeper Natarajan. But within minutes IHF was ahead with a goal following a penalty corenr. A quick hit by Sandeep Kumar was delected into the net by Arumugam. Tamil Nadu hit back with a splendid goal by Karthick off a pass from Sarath Babu and interest picked up with the home team pressing hard for the equaliser.

IHF however went ahead picking up the third goal that generated a note of controversy. Vika Topno darted in delectably only to be baulked by goal-keeper, Natarajan. The ball rose in the air and Raju smacked it home, lifting in the process the stick over the shoulder. When umpire Raghu Prasad signalled the goal, there was a volley of protest from the players who circled the umpire. Raghu Prasad had a word with his colleague, Satinder Sharma, but stuck to his decision, raising many an eyebrow.

The reverse, quite predictably, upset the growing rhythm of Tamil Nadu, which looked assured enough to stage a comeback. Sarath Babu, Karthick and Prabhakaran created quite a few tense moments for the IHF defence, which was under continuous pressure.

Tamil Nadu forced as many as seven penalty corners in the second half adding to the three in the first. But the penalty drill by the Tamil Nadu was anything but impeccable.

It was however IHF Juniors which hit the target again midway through. Vivek Gupta was again behind this goal. He produced an adroit free hit for which Raju put the finishing touches. The ball flew to the corner of the net, leaving Natarajan stranded under the bar. Vivek Gupta was declared the man of the match.

Tame contest

What was looked forward to convey to the audience the essence of hockey skills turned out to be tame contest where neither Air India nor Bhopal could assert itself. Air India had to hang on to a solitary goal scored in the early minutes by Kundu from a push in a penalty corner by the veteran international, Anil Aldrin.

Much was expected from the Bhopal team, which appeared to be proficient enough to make a match of it. Its leading stars spent more their energy in picking holes in the supervision of the umpries, especially against Mohammad Munir. Late in the evening their actions suggested a walk out over the award of a penalty corner by Mohammad Munir, but better sense prevailed in the end.

There were moments when it looked as though Bhopal would not only equalise but prevail over the Air India defence. But what Bhopal lacked was cohesion, which failed to match the individual skills of Altaf-ur-Rehman, and more importantly that of international, Samir Dad. A few thrustful moves by Samir Dad forced one to recall those halcyon days when he shared the attack with Dhanraj Pillay. Even Altaf managed a few sinuous runs but none of them showed the sharpness to overcome the goal-keeper.

Air India concentrated more on defending the lead even though there were five penalty corners in its favour against the three by Bhopal. It could not enlarge the lead largely on account of the poor variations attempted.

Individually, Roshan Tete and Devinder Kumar displayed a burst here and there. Rough play surfaced now and then, and Gurmeet Singh had the humiliation of taking an yellow card from Mohammad Munir.

The best chance for Bhopal to level came in the dying minutes. A well co-ordinated move involving Samir Dad enabled Arif Beg to break through but the latter fumbled when the goal was only a metre away from the attacker. A penalty corner in the closing minute created a tense moment but Amjad Khan put the ball away when goal-keeper Mallan Gowda was at his mercy.

Wednesday's matches: Quarterfinals: Indian Overseas Bank v Indian Railways (2-15 p.m.); ASC Centre, Bangalore v Karnataka(4-15 p.m.).

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