Indian Bank will take on Army XI (Bangalore) in the final of the IOB-Syed Ahmed Memorial hockey tournament at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Sunday. In the first semifinal on Saturday, IB beat Central Excise 3-1 and in the second last four clash held under floodlights, Army XI edged out South Central Railway 6-4 via penalty shoot-out after the teams were locked 2-2 at regulation time.
IB was clearly the better team as it dominated the proceedings almost throughout. It had more than half-a-dozen chances in the first half, but could convert only one through Gnanavel in the 14th minute. With twelve minutes remaining for the hooter, CE’s Laxman Karan equalised through a penalty corner. Always looking for opportunities to score, IB struck again through Deepak whose clean strike off a corner sounded the boards. IB put it beyond CE when Gnanavel converted a stroke that resulted when Francis brought down Maria Stalin.
The Army-SCR match was evenly contested. The Bangalore unit imposed its will in the first session. Skipper Eliazek Lakra put Army XI ahead in the 30th minute with a solo run from around 25 metres.
SCR equalised through Innocent Kullu off a corner, and it could have gone ahead had Aleem not fluffed a stroke. Minutes after the disappointment for SCR, Arumugam (Army XI) scooped one into the roof of the net. SCR was not finished yet, as a hard shot from the right by Poonacha was deflected home by Nitin Shekar.
In the shoot-out, of the five players who tried for both the teams, Chittaranjan, Mukesh Lakra, Sunil Ekka and Reniel Singh (Eliazek Lakra’s shot was saved by the goalkeeper) scored for Army XI, while only Aleem and Poonacha could find the target for SCR.
