The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : S. Railway and IOB share points

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S. Railway and IOB share points

Special Correspondent

Chennai: Defending champion, Indian Overseas Bank, played a 1-1 draw against Southern Railway ‘A’ in the MIOT-CHA super league hockey championship for the Rajaram Shield at the Mayor Radkrishnan Stadium on Saturday. Both the goals came in the second half.

Mediocre fare

The match was expected to be a key contest in determining the league champion for 2008 but it turned out to be appallingly mediocre fare. More distressingly, the proceedings became an eyesore at some points, with players indulging in rough methods with as many as five yellow cards being shown.

Even before the tempo could pick up, there was a fracas near the Southern Railway goal following a penalty corner.

It developed into a brawl with players pushing and punching each other leaving the umpires helpless. As the tension subsided, the umpires chose to suspend two from each side, Adam Sinclair and goal-keeper Shamuga Sundaram from IOB, and Leo Rajkumar and Mahendra Singh from Southern Railway.

The four missed the major part of the first half.

With the teams reduced to nine players each there was precious little on show.

Fine goal

Shortly after the break, Mahendra Singh scored a fine goal on the run from the top of the circle. Not long after came the equaliser when Gopinath sounded the boards. In the closing minutes, umpire Muhammad Munir flourished the yellow card to IOB’s Vimalanathan.

Southern finished the programme with the tally of 10 points while IOB also has the same tally with the deciding match remaining against ICF on Sunday.

ICF has a tally of 12 points from four matches and needs only a draw to regain the trophy. Earlier, Indian Bank beat SAI ‘B’ by three goals to two. Tirumalvalavan, Dinesh Nayak and V. Raja scored for the winner, while S. Raja and Vinod Kumar netted for SAI ‘B’.

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