NEW DELHI, NOV 14: Playing an attacking game, Birsamunda Vidyapitha Rourkela overpowered Army Boys Sports Co. Danapur 2-0 to lift the 26th Junior Nehru Hockey Trophy here today.Earlier, last year's runners up St Ignatius, Gumla clinched the third spot as Shivalik Public School (Chandigarh) did not not turn up for the match.Gumla school received Rs 40,000 for finishing third.Birsamunda Vidyapitha outclassed their rivals in the first half and should have won by much higher margin but for the missed chances by its forwards and some good saves by Danapur goalkeeper Bharat Kumar.Birsamunda scored two goals, in a space of 11 minutes in the first half. The victory margin of 2-0 which fetched Birsamunda Rs one lakh as prize money, is not the true index of their domination in the match.Runners up Army Boys Sports Company earned Rs 60,000. In a fast paced final, both teams played a fast game, but it was Birsamunda who could sustain the pace for modst of the time.Surprisingly Danapur Boys looked bit tired in the second session, but Birsamunda failed to take advantage of that.Birsamunda Vidyapitha earned five penalty corners as against two by their rivals but only one was converted.The Rourkela school, who had finished third last year, adopted attacking tactics from the very start and had their rivals on the defensive for most of the first half.Rourkela surged ahead in the 12th minute when off a second penalty corner, Johnson Ekka instead of taking direct shot relayed the ball to Jarcius Kullu, who dribbled past a defender and with a rasping drive sent the ball home (1-0).Birsamunda consolidated their lead in the 23rd minute when Sunil Kiro made a fine move from the right and moved into the danapur circle, defender Gabriel Herenz tried to fend off the attack but did not not clear the ball properly which was intercepted by John Kerketta whose first timer beat the goal keeper all ends up (2-0).Birsamunda kept the heat on and Danapur defence was in all sorts of trouble but their goal keeper Kumar brought off at least four good saves to foil Birsamunda's bid to increase their goal tally.The six best players of the tournament - Bharat Kumar (Gk-Army Boys), Kanwal Preet Singh (Shivalik), Roshan Tete (Birsamunda), Arvind Kumar (Army Boys), Sunil Kiro (Birsamunda) and Rakesh (Union Academy) - received Rs 2000 each.While Union Academy, Delhi pocketed Rs 8,000 for winning the Pepsi penalty corner award (team), Shivalik's Kanwalpreet Singh became richer by Rs 2000 for the individual penalty corner award.
