Easy wins for ITBP, Rlys and Hyderabad

Easy wins for ITBP, Rlys and Hyderabad
Agencies

Hyderabad, November 26: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Inidan Railways and hosts Hyderabad registered wins on the second day of the Group `A' league match of the National Hockey championship here on Sunday.

In the first match ITBP blanked Andhra 2-0 with Praveen Thiru scoring in the 27th minute and Kulvinder Singh increasing the lead in the 61st minute.

Hosts Hyderabad thrashed Steel Auhtority of India (SAIL) 2-0 with Manoj Kumar converting a penalty corner in the 14th minute and Dong Dong scoring a superb field goal in the 69th minute in a one-sided match.

Indian Railways came from behind to beat Bihar 2-1 in a keenly fought match where the Bihar took the lead in the 7th minute through Arvind Kumar and M Ekka equalising in the 15th minute and the teams were 1-1 at half time.

Anoop Tirkey scored the winner in the 51st minute for Railways to notch up a 2-1 victory.

I-A overcome Bengal
IMPHAL: Indian Airlines defeated a spirited Bengal 2-0 in a crucial Pool-E league match here on Sunday.

Samir and Dilip scored for the airline team in the 16th and 35th minutes of the game, played at Khuman Lampak hockey stadium.

Bengal were unlucky not to be able to score a goal in an evenly poised match. After conceding the goals in the first half, Bengal attacked fiercely in the second session, but failed to penetrate the solid Indian Airlines defence.

In another match, Nagaland drubbed Assam 3-0. Kezhaletuo, Viboto and Nokethol scored one goal each for Nagaland.

In the third match of the day, Manipur beat Orissa 3-1. Orissa scored the first goal in the 17thminute through Abhay Kumar.

The Manipur boys, who seemed to be taking it easy till then, were shaken up from their slumber and attacked with vengeance to score three goals in the 27th, 39th and 53th minutes. he scorers were Tomba Singh, Birjit Singh and Chitaranjan Singh.

K'taka meet Vidharbha
BANGALORE: Karnataka is to start with a positive note in thecluster `B' matches starting here from Monday.Besides hosts, Punjab and Sind Bank (Jalandhar), Vidharabha, Pondicherry and CISF (New Delhi) are in Pool `B'.

Hosts Karnataka take on Vidarbha in the opener.

A-I, TN fancied
CHENNAI: Star studded Air India and runners-up for the last two years Tamil Nadu are clear favourites on paper in the Group `C' preliminary league matches beginning at the Astro Turf Stadium here from Monday

Sabu Varkey to lead Mumbai
MUMBAI: Olympian Sabu Varkey, the star BPCL player, will lead Mumbai in the 60th Senior National Hockey Championship of which the Pool `D' matches will be played at the Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, from Monday, November 27 to December 3.

The six-team Pool `D' comprises Mumbai, Central Reserve Police Force, Maharashtra, Tata Sports, Gujarat and recently-crowned Nehru Cup champions Indian Oil. Mumbai take on Maharashtra in the first game at 4.00 pm on Monday. The top two teams will qualify for the main phase of the Championship which will be held in Jammu.

The star players missing from the Mumbai squad are the two Olympians, ace striker Dhanraj Pillay and goalkeeper Jude Menezes. Pillay is busy playing professional hockey in Malaysia, while Jude has opted out.

Mumbai team - Goalkeepers: PU Boppanna (BPCL) and Arun Gurung (Central Rly).Backs: Ajay Kumar (BPCL), Callistus D'Souza (Western Rly) and MK Prakash (BPCL).Halves: Sandesh Somesh (BPCL), Shayne D'Costa (MbPT), Sunil Pereira (Western Railway) and IS Negi (Western Rly).

Forwards: Prem Kumar Singh (SAI), Sabu Varkey (Captain, BPCL), Gajan Ajit Singh (BPCL), Salauddin Siddique (MbPT), Mumtaz Ahmed (MbPT), Leonard Pereira (MbPT), Gurmeet Singh Rao (Western Rly), Digvijay Naik (MbPT) and Javed Shaikh (MbPT).

Coach: Mukul Pandey. Manager: Darryl D'Souza.

Standbyes: Ryan Sequeira (Western Rly), Mohammed Sams (Central Rly), Ram Bahadur (Khalsa Gym), Abhijit Shirsat (MbPT), Deepak Kotian (MbPT) and Ninson Mangalath (Bombay Republicans).