Hockey: IOCL, MP Academy emerge champs

Old faithfuls and former India stars Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur scored a goal apiece to help Indian Oil Corporation Ltd beat their old foes Air India 2-0 in the men's final while MP Academy overcame Haryana 5-4 for the women's crown in the Hockey Karnataka's inaugural Bengaluru Cup All-India hockey tournament here Friday.

IOCL, thus, recorded their 16th win this season. They had won all but one of their 11 matches in the Mumbai League before defeating Air India in the final. IOCL had beaten Air India in the league phase in the Bengaluru Cup.

Prabhjot scored in the sixth minute off a Gangandeep Singh pass and later, Thakur, named Player of the tournament (men), deflected home Hamza Mujitaba's shot past the 25th to give IOCL a 2-0 advantage that they nursed till the final hooter.

Air India, in dire need of young blood and filled with former India players, were rather disappointing in this one-sided final and just could not find a way past Baljit Singh who was outstanding in the IOCL goal.

In the women's final, MP Academy squandered leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before getting past Haryana by an aggregate score of 5-4 via sudden-death after finishing regulation period tied 3-3.

In the tie-breaker, the teams failed could convert just once from five attempts through Shivani Singh (Acadmy) and Kiran (Haryana). In the sudden-death that followed, Neha failed to convert for Haryana while skipper Reena Kochar came good to clinch the issue for Academy.

Earlier, Ramngaihzuali, named Player of the tournament (women), put Academy ahead, capping a pass from Reena Kochar in the eighth minute and Rakhi Prajapathi made it 2-0 in the 26th when she flicked home from close following a Kochar-Shivani Singh move.

Haryana showed some urgency on resumption and pulled one back in the 47th when Jyoti Gupta scored off a rebound after Neha's try came off goalkeeper Swati, but the Academy girls struck back two minutes later through Disha Tiwari's penalty corner conversion.

Haryana pressed on and forced a penalty stroke in the 51st minute which Jaspreet converted and Nickey then hammered home a 62nd minute penalty corner to tie the scores at 3-all.