Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) capped a fine run by beating surprise finalist Bengaluru Hockey Association (BHA) 4-2 in the final to emerge champion in the 91st All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here today.
ONGC, after a mixed performance in the round-robin phase, raised its game in the semifinal to knock out defending champion Indian Railways. They continued in the same vein this evening and made their intentions clear from the beginning.
Diwakar Ram, one of the key players in the tournament, gave ONGC a flying start by scoring from a penalty corner in just the third minute.
With the two teams looking to assert their supremacy and to stay aggressive, there were quite a few quick moves. The Bengaluru team hit back within two minutes of conceding the goal, when Rajkumar Pal sent one past the rival custodian to level things.
The BHA team, which had impressed many on its way to the final, kept attacking, which brought another goal, in the 13th minute through Bijju Yirkal's field goal.
Mandeep Antil restored parity for ONGC when he got one through from a penalty corner in the 28th minute. The two teams went into the break locked at 2-all.
In the second half, the experience of ONGC showed as they raised their game a notch and the third goal came against the run of play when Machaiah scored in the 52nd minute.
He was at it again with a goal in the final minute to end Bengaluru's fine run.
The victorious ONGC team received Rs five lakh prize money while BHA got Rs 2.5 lakh.
Murugappa Group executive chairman A Vellayan gave away the prizes in the presence of MCC president Srivatsan Subramaniyam.
Special prizes: Best forward: Jenjen Singh (Bengaluru HA), best mid-fielder: Machaiah (ONGC), best goalkeeper-defender: Diwakar Ram, Most promising player: Sanjay Xalxo (Odisha), man of the final: Rajkumar Pal (BHA).
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