New Delhi: PNB crushed Namdhari XI by 5-2 in the final match of 27th Lal Bahadur Shastri Tournament played in Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi, on Sunday.
PNB took the early lead through Satinder Dalal in the 32nd minute by a speedy grounded shot for which the Namdharis had no reply. Throughout PNB dominated the match by keeping the maximum ball possession and played an attacking game. However, Gnganpreet Singh of Namdhari XI was able to equalise the score through a penalty corner in the 35th minute.
Both teams were 1-1 till the end of the half time.
In the second half, both the teams tried to outscore each other but the defence of both sides were holding their positions quite well. But in the 50th minute of the game Bhagat Singh of PNB hit the fence through a penalty corner and it goal boosted the morale of his played which played with aggression thereafter. PNB scored another field goal next minute (51st minute) through Sumit Toppo.
When it seemed that the match was going in favour of PNB, Namdharis struck a goal through Gaganpreet Singh in the 56th minute to make it 2-3. Thereafter, the PNB players started attacking fiercely and scored two consecutive goals in the 63rd and 69th minute by Arjun and Satinder Dalal, respectively, to seal the fate of match in their favour.
PNB lifted the Lal Bahadur Shastri trophy for the second time, first being in 2014.
The winners were awarded the trophy and Rs 2 lakh while the runners-up received Rs 1 lakh cheque.
Satinder Dalal of PNB emerged as the top Scorer of the tournament while best player of the tournament went to Gaganpreet Singh of Namdhari XI.
PNB Coach Govind Kanojia on winning the tournament said “We played well throughout the tournament. The finals became a one sided match and we dominated the second half of the game. Lot of efforts have been put to win this tournament. We could not perform well in the Ranjit Singh Hockey Tournament as the fitness level of our players was low and we could only draw matches. But this time the fitness level of our players improved and that fetched us results. We will continue to play better hockey in the coming tournaments.”
PNB captain Ravinder said, “We were taking every match one by one and were planning our strategy accordingly. In the final match our main target was to play an attacking game and counter attack as well. We are pleased that our four goals were field goals and that showed the strength and aggression of our players. In the league stage our toughest competitors were IOC and we beat them. To beat Air India in semi-finals was tough as some of their players are two time Olympians. Finally we are very happy to have won this tournament.”
