CHENNAI: Riding on Pratap Lakra’s three goals, Indian Railways defeated Hockey Karnataka 5-2 in the final of the 94th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium here on Sunday.
Despite persistent showers and overcast conditions, the Railways team played with a lot of fire and zest and outplayed Hockey Karnataka in an engrossing final which was watched by Olympians V Baskaran, BP Govinda and Mohammed Riaz. Railways men got into the act straightaway and took an early lead with Pratap Lakra scoring the first goal through a penalty corner in the second minute.
Thrishul Ganapathi equalised in the 17th minute. Pratap Lakra, who went on to win the Man of the Match award, scored two more goals in the 24th and 29th minute through a penalty stroke and a penalty corner, respectively. At the end of the second quarter, Indian Railways led the match 3-1. From then on, it was clear that it would be a daunting task for Karnataka to press for a win.
Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister of Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu, was the chief guest and presented the Gold Cup winners trophy to Indian Railways, along with a cash prize of `7 lakh. The runners-up, Hockey Karnataka, were presented with the silver cup and a cas prize of `5 lakhs.
Sumit, Rishab crack tons Centuries by Sumit Kushwah (111; 369b, 13x4) and Rishabh Chouhan (181 batting; 353b, 22x4, 3x6) put Madhya Pradesh in command against TNCA XI on the second day of the semifinals of the TAKE Sports-All India Buchi Babu Invitation cricket tournament. Madhya Pradesh were 456 for seven in 156.3 overs when rain stopped play at NPR college grounds, Dindigul. Sumit and Rishabh added 213 runs in 87 overs for the fourth wicket. TNCA XI lead spinner, R Sai Kishore, was a tad expensive as he picked three for 121.
Brief scores Delhi 340 in 103 ovs (Arpit Rana 51, Vaibhav Sharma 60, Vaibhav Kandpal 42, Sumit Mathur 52, Lakshay Thareja 36, Pranshu Vijayran 34; Ajay Mandal 4/66, Shubham Agarwal 3/76) vs Chhattisgarh 182/8 in 65.4 ovs (Shashank Chandrakar 42, Sanjeet Desai 25, Md Shahbaz Hussain 40; Hrithik Shokeen 3/45). Madhya Pradesh 456/7 in 156.3 ovs (Sumit Kushwah 111, Shubham Sharma 35, Rishabh Chouhan 181 batting, Aryan Deshmukh 40, Aman Bhadoria 36 batting; R Sai Kishore 3/121, Nidhish S Rajagopal 2/52) vs TNCA XI.
Divya bags chess crown With six points, Divya Bharathi of MOP Vaishnav College for Women won the PERI Trophy at the inter-collegiate chess tournament held at PERI College for Arts and Science. About 400 students from 85 institutions took part in the tournament. Divya received a cash award of `7500 and a trophy. Rindhiya V of SSS Shasun Jain College for Women (5.5 points) came second while Kirtana SP of WCC came third with 5.5 points.
The fourth place went to Trisha B of MOP Vaishnav College for Women and the 5th place was secured by Nayanikaa M of MOP Vaishnav College for Women.
