CHENNAI: Riding on Kuldeep's strike in the sudden death, Indian Navy defeated BPCL 5-4in the final of the 97th All India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here on Sunday.
In an evenly contested encounter, Indian Navy took the lead through Abhishek Topno in the 14h minute. Anmol Ekka with his brilliance converted a penalty corner in the second quarter (30 minute) for BPCL to level the scores 1-1. In the next two quarters, both teams raided each other with little success. The shoot out ended in a deadlock with both teams committing identical errors and the scoreboard reading 4-4
In the sudden death, Sudeep of BCPL got the first opportunity to strike and missed the chance. Later, Kuldeep held on to his nerves and scored the winner to the delight of the large crowd. Former Olympian V Baskaran had a word of praise for the way the final was played.
"It was an exciting game of hockey. In a final, you do not expect teams to concede soft goals. So naturally one expected the match to go to a tie breaker. As none wanted to take risk, it was apt that it ended in sudden death," Baskaran told this daily.
He lauded Navy for preparing well for the tournament and being consistent in the championship. "I think Navy has been very consistent in the tournament, because I understand they had a big long camp in Bangalore, and the previous two outings in Murugappa hockey they had not done very well. So I think in this tournament they gave their best and worked hard to win the trophy," complimented Baskaran.
"Navy had a good training and one could see that they had back to back matches and played well. The Navy team was slightly better because they had better fitness. So as expected in the first half, they were at 1-1, because they played safe. The second one was a little bit sullen. I think they could have tried to go and attack more. And both the teams left the ball," he explained.
Baskaran was impressed by the way Tamil Nadu's K Selvaraj played for the Indian Navy. "I think Selvaraj of the Navy was good. That boy played excellent hockey. He scored in the tiebreaker also very well. Hopefully, they have a good tournament in future," complimented Baskaran.
Awards: Player of the match of the final: Ankit Malik (Indian Navy). Most Promising Player of the tournament: Ankush (Indian Army).
Best Forward of the Tournament: K Selvaraj (Indian Navy). Best Midfielder of the Tournament:Devindar Walmiki (BPCL). Best Defender/ Goal-Keeper of the Tournament: Hairul Haziq (Malaysia Jr). Fastest Player of the Tournament: Simranjot Singh (RSPB). Outstanding Endurance award: Aakib Rahim (Indian Navy). Most Stylish Player of the Tournament: Harjeet Singh (BPCL). High-Performance Player of the Tournament: Anmol Ekka (BPCL).