Olympian Adrian D’Souza was the saving grace as he boldly piloted Air India and ensured that they safely landed into the final of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, being organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL).
Air India goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza in action during the penalty shootout in their semi-final match against ONGC of the GTB Gold Cup All India Hockey Tourney.
Goalkeeper D’Souza showing good anticipation and agility made some spectacular saves which helped Air India overcome ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation), Delhi 6-5 via the penalty shootout sudden death at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Wednesday afternoon. The match finished 1-1 and the scores were tied 2-2 in the ensuing penalty shootout tie-breaker.
Olympian Adrian D’Souza was the saving grace as he boldly piloted Air India and ensured that they safely landed into the final of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, being organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL).
Goalkeeper D’Souza showing good anticipation and agility made some spectacular saves which helped Air India overcome ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation), Delhi 6-5 via the penalty shootout sudden death(overall 7-6) at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Wednesday afternoon. The match finished 1-1 and the scores were tied 2-2 in the ensuing penalty shootout tie-breaker.
Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PCM) Bank is the sponsors of this tournament, which is being organised under the auspices of Hockey India.
Contrary to expectation the semi-final clash was far from exciting. Both the teams on view hardly showed much purpose or urgency as a result the fare dished out was pedestrian. However, Mumbai boy D’Souza kept the local interest alive as he made a series of timely saves during normal play and later during the tense penalty shootout. He foiled five tries of the ONGC players, including the crucial 11th attempt by Gurvinder Singh Chandi. Later his teammate Joga Singh successfully converted to clinch the win for Air India and book their place in the final.
Incidentally it was Jogga who scored for Air India during the match when he beat ONGC custodian Kamaldeep Singh with a fierce reverse hit following Pawan Kumar’s back pass in the 44th minute. ONGC who were unable to play their usual attacking game were fortunate to draw level as Mandeep Antil hammered in the equaliser following a costly blunder by the Air India defence in the 54th minute.
In Thursday’s final Air India will battle it out with Army XI, Bengaluru who prevailed over local challengers Central Railway 3-0 also via the penalty shootout tie-breaker after the scores were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation 70-minute period.
In the 56th minute Mohd Nizam provided Central with the lead, which they failed to defend as the rugged Armymen managed to restore parity four minutes later through a soft goal scored by Binay Bhengra. In the penalty shootout Army failed with their first two attempts but scored from the next two through Bhengra and Biraj Ekka, while Central could not convert any of their four attempts and had to bow out.
The final will be played on Thursday, August 27 at 4.30pm.
Results – Semi-finals: Air India 7 (Joga Singh 3, A.B. Cheeyanna 2, Sumit Topo 2) beat ONGC 6 (Mandeep Antil, Diwakar Ram 2, Sumit Kumar, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Jagwant Singh) via the penalty shootout. Full-time: 1-1.
Army XI 4 (Binay Bhengra 2, Biraj Ekka) beat Central Railway 1 (Mohd Nizam) via the penalty shootout tie-breaker. Full-time: 1-1.