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Remarkable rally by IOB; Mumbai XI holds IOC

Hockey Correspondent

— Photo: M. Vedhan

BREAKING THROUGH: IOB’s Adam Sinclair (left) gets past K.M. Sommanna of Karnataka XI in the Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: Even as the spotlight was trained on identifying the qualifiers for the semifinals, the talking point at the end of Monday’s programme in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament centred around the commendable comeback by Indian Overseas Bank against Karnataka XI at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here.

Late in the evening, the crowd witnessed another pulsating contest when Mumbai XI, trailing 1-3 at half-time, surged back into contention with a 4-4 draw against IOC, the equaliser by Osaf-ur-Rehman synchronising with the hooter. It was a splendid show by Mumbai.

Fragrance of victory

The 3-2 verdict, the first in three encounters, for IOB amply mirrors the fortitude of a team which recovered from a 0-2 deficit at half-time to smell the fragrance of victory.

From day one, it has been a case of so near and yet so far for the local league champion. It almost levelled things against top outfit IOC and then shared points with Indian Railways. Monday produced IOB’s finest hour.

In terms of technical excellence, IOB was a shade better. However, its frontline frittered away quite a few chances so assiduously created by the midfield, where the diminutive Senthil played an outstanding role. Senthil had a part in every move but the combination of Vimalanathan, Adam Sinclair and Vinod Rayar failed to translate all his efforts into goals.

On the contrary, Karnataka XI, banking heavily on the experience and expertise of Sandeep Michael and supported well by Somanna and Nithin Thimmiah, scored an early goal through a penalty corner by Rama Rao.

Midway through, Sandeep came up with a superb effort to hoist, what looked at that point, a comfortable lead.

After the break too, the trend was slightly in favour of the Karnataka outfit which was keen on holding on to its lead.

A speck of rough play reared its ugly head but the umpires ensured that the match stayed well under control.

A yellow card for Ramesh Kumar (IOB) and Sampath (Karnataka) cooled tempers a bit.

The transformation

IOB’s transformation came midway through the second half when Gopinath deflected in a penalty corner. Even before the cheers died down came a crafty reverse flick by Senthil. This brought the teams on par.

Egged on by the goodly crowd, IOB intensified the sorties and Adam Sinclair shrugged off his sluggishness to slam home the match-winner amidst spontaneous cheers with four minutes remaining for the final whistle.

The victory took IOB’s tally to four points in Pool A with a match remaining against Mumbai XI. Joga Singh and Osaf-ur-Rehman played a stellar role in the second half as the latter shared honours with the formidable IOC which has a tally of seven from three games.

On course

Air India was on course for a semifinal spot after its 7-3 win against the inexperienced Orissa Sports Hostel, whose players showed tremendous potential and enthusiasm.

The three goals the Sports Hostel boys scored against Air India underlined their competence. Air India leads the Pool B table with seven points.

The results: Air India 7 (V.S. Vinay, Girish Pimple, Vikram Pillay, Arjun Halappa 2, Sandeep Singh 2) bt Orissa Sports Hostel 3 (Neul Tirkey, Dilip Kerketta, Sanjay Ekka). IOB 3 (Gopinath, Senthil, Adam Sinclair) bt Karnataka 2 (Rama Rao, Sandeep Michael). IOC 4 (Raghunath, Deepak Thakur 2, Roshan Minz) drew with Mumbai XI 4 (Ajay Kumar, Joga Singh 2, Osaf-ur-Rehman).

Tuesday’s matches: Orissa v BPCL; Air India v Namdhari.

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