Railways trounces IOC, meets Navy in the final

An exuberant Indian Navy proved its performance in the pool matches was no flash in the pan, by putting it across an experienced Indian Army 2-0 in the semifinals of the 96th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday and reach its maiden final.

Earlier, in a surprisingly one-sided semifinal, defending champion Indian Railways dished out sparkling hockey to outclass arch-rival Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) 7-1. In the summit clash on Sunday, Railways, going for a hat-trick of titles, will take on Navy.

Possessing players with experience and quality, Army kept a youthful Navy team at bay by employing solid defence. Navy earned four penalty corners but couldn’t make any of them count in a listless and goalless first quarter which was quite evenly matched. The second quarter, too, followed a similar pattern.

Navy scored in the first minute of the third quarter, thanks to a fine deflection by Ashish Topno off a penalty corner shot by Sanjit Toppo. Navy continued to have the upper-hand in the third with a series of raids that were unsuccessful.

Army’s forwards were a let-down as its circle penetrations were poor as compared to Navy. Army earned its first penalty corner as late as in the fourth quarter. However, in the 55th minute, Army did unleash its attacking prowess by getting back-to-back penalty corners, but failed in all of them.

With three minutes to go for the hooter, Navy effectively closed out the contest when Rajat Minz converted one by pushing it home off a free hit by Rajat Sharma.

This was Railways’ best performance after a lukewarm performance in the group matches. IOC was a mere spectator for the majority of the contest despite possessing internationals by the dozen. The hero of the match was Railways’ Pankaj Rawat, who produced a hat-trick.

The results: Semifinals: Indian Railways 7 (Darshan Gawkar 5 & 10, Pankaj Rawat 17, 51 & 54, Shivam Anand 30, Hartaj Aujla 44) bt IOC 1 (Affan Yousuf 6).

Indian Navy 2 (Ashish Topno 31, Rajat Minz 57) bt Indian Army 0.