PSB to meet BSF in Nehru final

When inexperienced Gursevak Singh, taking IHF’s last attempt, was palmed away by junior India goalkeeper Teja Singh of PSB, their misery was complete. After PSB’s Rajinder Singh was thwarted in their fourth attempt by another junior India keeper Jagdish Ponnappa, IHF’s chance had brightened. Rajinder Singh Jr, however, made no mistake with his scoop for PSB’s winner.

After Daljit Dhillon had hit the post, Radhakrishnan, Baljit Singh Chandi and Gagan Ajit Singh had converted their chances for IHF. In response, PSB did well through Bhupinder Singh Sr, Sarabjit Singh, Rajbir Singh and, finally, Rajinder Junior whoo took the crucial hit and was successful.

In fact, it was Dhillon who had raised the hopes of IHF’s comeback after they trailed 0-2 at the beginning of the second session. Gagan Ajit Singh’s fine feeding from left helped Dhillon glide the ball in. And then came the gem of a goal from a near zero angle, which Gagan Ajit Singh himself hit to restore parity with just two minutes to go for the hooter.

Earlier, PSB converted their first penalty corner in the 10th minute through Ram Saran to take the lead. PSB, on their part, also scored a fine goal when Chandi lunged forward to guide a Ram Saram cross from left even as Ponnappa was taking his position.

With the game mostly concentrated on the PSB half, after their 2-0 lead, their defence was bound to crack under pressure. It did time and again and IHF kept earning penalty corners — they had six as against PSB’s two — without able to put them into account. Some rough play by both team resulted in a few cards being flashed by umpires Vir Bahadur Singh and H.S. Sokhi, Romeo Alberque of IHF and Bhupinder Jr figuring promimently with yellow cards. After being hit in the lower lip, skipper Harbhajan Singh needed medical attention and could not take to the field for most part.

BSF struck through Sushil Kumar, Habil Top and Kuljinder Singh SAIL hit their consolation goal in the 64th minute through Prakash Chalke. Some rough play by SAIL also resulted in two strokes being awarded to BSF which they converted without any fuss.