Western Railway pulled off a stunning come from behind 4-3 win over South East Central Railway (SEC) to clinch the All-India Railway men's hockey championship here on Saturday.
Western found itself two goals down as early as the nineteenth minute as Shabad Khan and Deepak Kishore put SEC ahead. In the twelfth minute, custodian Suraj Kanta blocked a penalty corner but Khan was steered in the rebound and seven minutes later, Kishore slotted in a scrappy goal which was punctuated with mis-hits and half-clearances.
With the contest seemingly slipping out of its grip, Western hit back through Jay Karan who dribbled through SEC's defence and slid in a finish to halve the deficit.
Western pulled level two minutes from half-time as the move that started on the left, swung right as a diagonal cross-field ball found Jayesh Yadav. Just as it looked like the ball would dribble out, Yadhav pulled it back for Karan to finish.
SEC pulled ahead yet again, converting the second of their penalty corners through Sameer Baxla. K. Chinlensana, who was quiet for most of the first half, broke down the right and skipped past a host of defenders to set up Jayesh Jadhav and the teams were on level footing once more.
Quite fittingly, it was Chinlensana who got the goal that gave Western the title, as he flew down the flanks and applied the finish himself this time.
Deepak Krishnan, General Manager, Southern Railway, gave away the prizes.
The result (final): Western 4 (Jay Karan 2, Jayesh Jadhav, Chinlensana) bt South East Central 3 (Shabad Khan, Deepak Kishore, Sammer Baxla).
