Lions draw first blood, spoil hosts’ party

The first final of the second Premier Hockey League Tier I turned out to be anti-climax, at least for the Chandigarh hockey lovers, with mor...

The first final of the second Premier Hockey League Tier I turned out to be anti-climax, at least for the Chandigarh hockey lovers, with more than 10,000 fans gathered to cheer Chandigarh Dynamos on Monday had return home disappointed as their team slumped to a 2-4 defeat.

With the return of the likes of captain Rajpal Singh, goalkeeper Baljit Singh, Inderjit Singh Chadha, Mudasar Ali Khan and Jugraj Singh, Dynamos were expected to put up a fight against Banaglore Lions. But the latter played like a well-knit unit to snuff out the Dynamos.

With the second final to be played tomorrow, it would be rather difficult for the dejected Dynamos to stop the Lions, who gave apt demonstration of total hockey go 1-0 up in the best-of-three final.

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The star of the day for Lions was Pakistan forward Rehan Butt, who scored one goal and was instrumental in setting another. And everything went right for the Lions, including drag flick specialist Len Aiyappa striking twice from the three penalty corners earned by Bangalore Lions.

Lions scored in the 16th (Rehan), 20th (Len), 26th (Tushar Khandekar) and 31st (Len) before halftime. Dynamos showed some spark with two goals in the final quarter, but it was too little and too late. Jugraj netted the with a drag flick on the team’s second penalty corner while striker Inderjit Chadha netted in the 68th minute.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation gives law enforcement “enhanced powers to combat a group that has instilled fear through violence and intimidation”.

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