Hyderabad, November 2021: The summit clash between the two titans, Indian Oil and Indian Railways at the ‘Gooncha 57th Nehru Senior Hockey Tournament’, turned out to be a riveting final till the last minute, but Indian Oil ultimately prevailed upon in the penalty shootout round and lifted the coveted ‘Inder Mohan Kapur Nehru Senior Winners’ Cup, with a 6-4 win. Indian Railways got the consolation prize, the prestigious Inder Mohan Kapur Senior Runners-Up Cup at the SCR Sports Complex, Secunderabad, today.
This is the sixth time Indian Oil won the tournament, earlier they lifted the cup 4 times on their own and were a joint winner once. This is the first time these two teams vied for the Nehru Tournament cup, though they met each other in the other finals. Indian Railways won theNehru Senior Hockeytrophy twice earlier in 2016 and 2018. In the last final’s clash between these two teams at the 31st Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament, Indian Railways outflanked Indian Oil by 3-0. However, today Indian Oil scripted a memorable win and exacted a sweet revenge on Indian Railways. Talwinder Singh of Indian Oil was adjudged the Best Player of the Tournament.
The tournament favourite Indian Oil dominated the match in the first three quarters, but Indian Railways came back strongly in the dying moments and retrieved the match by forcing a 2-2 draw. However they lost out in the penalty shootout round and gave away the match. Early in the match Indian Oil took the lead through a field goal scored by Angadbir Singh in the 12th minute. The second quarter went goal less and at halftime Indian Oil was 1-0. Immediately into the second half, Indian Oil strengthened their position through a field goal by Arman Qureshi in the 32nd minute. When it seemed like Indian Oil would walk away with the Cup, Pardeep Singh brought back Indian Railway’s into the game by reducing the margin through a beautiful filed goal in the 51st minute and the very next minute Joginder Singh converted a penalty corner in the 52nd minute, levelling the scores. In the penalty shootout that followed, Pardeep Singh gave the lead for Indain Railways through a smart strike by beating the goal keeper; Angadbir Singh of Indian Oil restored the parity; Ajmer Singh missed the opportunity and let down the Indian Railways. Talwinder Singh scored a wonderful goal and gave a 2-1 lead for Indian Oil; Seshe Gowda of Indian Railways scored a simple goal as the Indian Oil goal keeper tripped and levelled the scores. Raheel Mohd., of Indian oil made the score 3-2; however Ajay Yadav of Indian Railways missed his opportunity and Vikramjit Singh of Indian Oil clinched the opportunity to make the score 4-2 for Indian Oil to register a victory. Roshan Minz of Indian Oil was declared the Man of the match.
Results: Indian Oil – 6 (Angadbir Singh – 12th minute – field goal; Arman Qureshi – 32nd minute – field goal; Penalty shootout – Angadbir Singh, Talwinder Singh, Raheel Mohd. & Vikramjit Singh) beat Indian Railways – 4 (Pardeep Singh – 51st minute – field goal; Joginder Singh – 52nd minute – penalty corner; Penalty shootout – Pardeep Singh & Seshe Gowda).
Green Card : Arman Qureshi, Indian Oil – 17th minute; Yellow Card : Vickram Kanth, Indian Oil – 43rd minute.
Man of the match : Roshan Minz, Indian Oil.
