Indian Navy edged past Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) 3-2 in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India hockey tournament which began here on Thursday.
First, in a Group-B contest Indian Navy edged past Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) 3-2. Then in Group-A, Bengaluru HA overcame Punjab National Bank (PNB) 4-2.
The TN-Navy tie was evenly contested. Slow to start, both teams picked up steam towards the third quarter. K. Selvaraj opened the account for TN with a push off a rebound from the goalkeeper in the first quarter before Aakib A. Rahim equalised.
TN slackened a bit in the second quarter and that turned out to be crucial in the end analysis. It was in this period Kuldeep converted off a penalty corner while TN scored none.
Despite playing well in the third (it scored one through Joshua) and fourth quarters, TN couldn’t catch up.
As the team management conceded, TN has to put in more effort on the fitness front.
The results: Group-A: BHA 4 (Harish Mutagar 28, G.N. Prithvi Raj 45+ & 49, B. Abharam Sudev 58) bt PNB 2 (Sumit Toppo 18, Sanjay 41).
Group-B: Indian Navy 3 (Aakib A Rahim 15, Kuldeep 17, T.E. Palangappa 43) bt HUTN 2 (K. Selvaraj 13, Joshua 39).
