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Interesting fare in the offing

Chennai: An interesting fare is in the offing in the semifinals when the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament resumes on Saturday after a day’s break at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium.

An added attraction in the line-up is the presence of the local league champion, Indian Overseas Bank.

The form displayed by some of IOB players, notably, Olympian Adam Sinclair, international Senthil and the rising star, Vinod Rayar, has been the talking point for the last few days.

IOB takes on the formidable Air India in the second semifinal of the evening.

In the earlier encounter IOC came to grips with Army XI, which fought its way into the last four after losing the opening match.

Captain Ignace Tirkey has been the guiding force for the Army XI, for which strikers, Sunil, Arumugam and Chittaranjan, were prominent throughout the campaign. Army XI won the trophy in 2005.

Glamour outfit

Admittedly, IOC, led by the charismatic Deepak Thakur, is reckoned as the glamour outfit, possessing as it does in the ranks stars such as the recent Arjuna Award winner, Prabhjot Singh, strikers Rajpal Singh, Inderjit Chadha and the drag-flicker B. Raghunath.

Air India, which also has a fair chunk of players from Indian Airlines, is viewed as the potential winner of the trophy.

Centre of attraction

The gangling Sandeep Singh, penalty corner expert, is the centre of attraction in the team, which has a vibrant midfield led by wing-half Gurbaj Singh.

The strength in the attack rests on the two strikers, Arjun Halappa and Bruno Lugan. — Hockey Correspondent

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