Rahul CJ (centre – 27 yellow jersey) of Karnataka plays against NCOE Bhopal during the 95th All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament 2024 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Egmore, Chennai on Monday. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
Karnataka had an excellent performance in the last edition of the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, reaching the final.
It caught everyone’s attention with its strong performance, which included excellent performance in both field play and penalty corners. However, Karnataka was not its old form here in the 95th edition, and could not make its mark. On Monday, it beat NCOE (Bhopal) 4-3 in Pool-B – thanks to two goals each from Abharan Sudev and CJ Rahul – to register its first win in three matches. Earlier in the Pool-A match, defending champions Indian Railways defeated Maharashtra 3-2.
NCOE came into the tournament looking to salvage some pride as they had won the Lakshmi Ammal Memorial Tournament in Kovilpatti in June. Their performance so far has not been good, losing two of their three matches.
NCOE opened the scoring in the seventh minute through their trusted skipper Faraz MD who scored a goal from a penalty corner. Karnataka retaliated immediately through Abharan Sudev and Rahul. Rahul back-pushed the ball from close range past the goalkeeper to make it 3-1. NCOE came very close to scoring through penalty corners in the final stages of the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter which could have changed the course of the match. But Karnataka goalkeeper AC Subramani made a couple of saves.
Result:
A: Indian Railways 3 (Yuvraj Walmiki 13, Simranjot Singh 40, Shivam Anand 47) vs Maharashtra 2 (Rohan Patil 59, Venkatesh Kenche 60).
B: Karnataka 4 (Abharan Sudev 12 & 47, CR Rahul 13 & 40) bt NCOE 3 (Faraz MD 7, Mohan Singla 46, Gopi Kumar Sonka 49).
It ends
Published – September 24, 2024 04:35 am IST