Indian Airlines, Karnataka
to clash in final

Star-studded Indian Airlines beat Indian Oil, Mumbai, 3-1 in the semi-finals to set up a title clash with Karnataka in the 80th MCC Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament, in Chennai, on Friday.

Karnataka managed to get the better of ONGC, Delhi, 2-1 in the other semi-final.

While Amerjeet Singh put ONGC ahead, Sandeep Michael and Somanna scored for Karnataka.

Indian Airlines were up by two goals through Moahmmad Riaz and Vinay before Kamlesh Kumar reduced the margin for Indian Oil. Virender Singh, who was off colour today, scored the third goal for Airlines.

Indian Airines, boasting of top players like Mukesh Kumar, Dhanraj Pillay, Virender Singh in the forward line and a strong defence, spearheaded by Dilip Tirkey, were made to work hard by the Indian Oil players, who were well-served by Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Kumar, Inderjeet Singh in the attack.

Indian Oil were more effective in attack, while the individual brilliance of Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar was the main feature of the Airlines outfit.

However, the first 30 minutes of play saw the teams take the ball to the rival area and return without any result. During this period, Indian Airlines wasted two penalty-corners. They almost scored in 31st minute but Mukesh Kumar's shot came off the left upright. Pillay was a bit late in latching onto the rebound.

The very next minute saw them go into the lead through Virender Singh.

In between, Prabhjot was shown the yellow card for arguing with umpire Mohd Muneer, following a hard tackle on him during a penalty-corner. Indian Oil goalkeeper Devesh Chouhan shown the green card for coming out of his charge and argueing with the umpire.

Indian Airlines went ahead following their third penalty-corner. Captain Dilip Tirkey's goalbound shot found the mark off a deflection by former international Mohammad Riaz.

Crossing over, they increased the lead through a combined Mukesh Kumar-Vinay move. Kumar could have gone into the circle and scored, but he passed the ball to Vinay, made no mistake.

Eight minutes later, Indian Oil reduced the margin through Kamlesh Kumar. Inderjeet Singh, tackled by Lazrus Barla, moved inside the circle and reverse flicked towards the goal. The ball went in off a deflection by Kamalesh Kumar.

Virender Singh, who missed connecting three good passes - one from Pillay and two from Mukesh Kumar, made amends in the 33rd minute, slamming home a Mukesh Kumar cross from near the goal.

In the other semi-final, ONGC went into the lead in the 16th minute through Amarjeet Prasad before Sandeep Michael restored parity for Karnataka in the 32nd minute.

Crossing over, K M Somanna scored the match-winner for Karnataka.

ONGC went ahead against the run of play as Mohd Fahad collected a loose ball and made a swift pass to Amarjeet Pratap, whose first timer beat goalkeeper Bharath Chetri.

Stung by the reverse, Karnataka applied pressure. Though they could not split the defence they succeeded in forcing three penalty-corners but none of them could fetch them a goal.

However, hardworking Ignatius Tirkey showed lot of athleticism on the left flank in dodging past the defeners. His tailor-made cross was met by Arjuna Hallapa, whose shot towards the goal was feebly interceped by defender S Z Nadeem. Sandeep Michael, standing nearby, trapped the ball and banged it home for the equaliser, three minutes before the break.

Tirkey, who played a stellar role for his team, was instrumental in finding the match-winner. He managed to capitalise on a defensive lapse to break through the defence but his powerful shot from about eight yards was blocked by goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh. Somanna latched on the rebound and shot home.