RSPB, PSPB set up title clash in Nehru senior hockey

Railways and Petroleum Sports Promotion Boards set up title clash in the Diamond Jubilee edition of SNBP-Nehru hockey tournament after beating Indian Navy and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) respectively in the semi-finals at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

While Indian Navy were the defending champions, CAG were the runners-up of the last Nehru hockey tournament.

In a tight contest, CAG were trailing through two second quarter goals but came back to tie 2-2 at regulation period. They, however, went down to Petroleum Sports Board 2-4 in the penalty shootout.

Later, in an exciting second semi-final, Railways downed Indian Navy 4-2. Railmen led by 4-0 till 47th minute in the fourth quarter before a rearguard action by Navymen made the loss look respectable as they found the net twice in the last 12 minutes. 

“Navy had many opportunities to score but captain Pawan Rajbhar and Kuldeep and Cariappa looked off colour,” said a statement from the tournament organisers.

The winners scored twice through Player of the Match Pratap Lakra.

Petroleum boys coordinated well to strike twice in second quarter in quick succession. Tejas Chavan made the most of a goalmouth skirmish in the 23rd minute. It was followed by a neat penalty corner conversion by Mandeep Antil.

Both the team kept pressure on the rivals before CAG cashed in on two penalty corners through Nabin Kujur and Venkatesh Telgu to tie the score at 2-all at the end of the regulation period.

In the shootout Harjeet, Tejas, Vikram and Kohlajeet Singh scored successfully with captain Devinder Walmiki failing for Petroleum team.

Only Deepak Malik and Abrahan were able to beat the Petroleum goalkeeper for CAG.

Railways in their match against Navy opened the account through Yuvraj Walmiki in 19th minute before Pratap Lakra consolidated seven minutes later.

Samanth and Lakra (his second goal) scored.

Lakra's second was a result of penalty stoke awarded when a goalbound Sudharshan was blocked by Cariappa. Then came the rally from defending champions Indian Navy. They scored through Sushil Dhanwar (penalty corner) and Pawan Rajbhar in the last quarter.

Tags : Hockey, RSPB, PSPB, Nehru Hockey, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Railways Sports Promotion Board, CAG, Indian Navy