Indian Railways lift 39th Surjit hockey trophy

Jalandhar, November 4

The Indian Railways edged out Indian Oil Mumbai by 3-1 to clinch the title at the 39th Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

The winners bagged Rs 5 lakh in cash and the Winners’ Trophy and the runners-up got Rs 2.51 lakh in cash and a trophy. Gursahib Singh of the Indian Railways team was declared the best player of the tournament and awarded Rs 51,000 in cash. This marks the third time that the Indian Railways team has won this title. Sahil of the Indian Oil team was declared promising player of the tournament and he was awarded Rs 31000 cash.

The cash reward of Rs 5 lakh for the winning team was sponsored by Amolak Singh Gakhal (USA) while the cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh for the runners-up was sponsored by Sukhwinder Singh Saini (Germany). The ‘Best Player Award’ of Rs 51,000 was sponsored by Ranbir Singh Rana Tutt.

The finals were played on a very fast note. In the 17th minute of the play, the Indian Railways took the lead when their Yuvraj Valmiki scored a field goal from the right flank (1-0). The Indian Oil wasted two opportunities to equalise in the first two quarters. At half time, the Indian Railways was leading by 1-0. After changing ends, the Indian Oil mounted pressure and earned a penalty corner.

The equaliser came from the stick of Sumit Kumar, who netted the ball from the pass of Olympian VR Raghunath (1-1). In the 51st minute of the play, the Indian Railways once again took the lead when player Sheshe Gowda BM scored the goal (2-1). In the 59th minute of the play, Gursahib Singh completed the tally by scoring field goal (3-1).