Meerut avenge loss, beat Jamia in tie-breaker

Jamia, who looked invincible in their earlier outings, were only a pale of their best form and even looked a bit over-confident as they entered the field to take on the Meerut team whom they had crushed 3-0 in the zonal championships late last month. Their mercurial centre-forward Hamza Mujtaba, who had a couple of shots at the goal, never looked sure of himself.

Except for a few moments in the first half and in the initial stages of the second session, the hosts never looked the dominating team they proved in their earlier matches in the championships. With better finishing they should have won by a convincing margin.

The Meerut University goalkeeper and skipper Harjeet was the toast of the team today as he stood between Jamia and the title. He foiled a couple of Jamia attempts at the goal during regulation time and was a source of confidence under the bar when the tie-breaker was applied to resolve the deadlock.

For the 2000-odd spectators, most of whom had come armed with fire-crackers in anticipation of a Jamia victory, the home team’s lacklustre display was a big disappointment. And most disheartening for their supporters was the ineffective strokes’ of the home team in the tie-breaker. Sandeep and Satish pushed the ball over the bar while Hamza Mujtaba’s feeble shot at the goal was well saved by Harjeet. Only Vivek Singh was able to convert the stroke’ for Jamia who had to be content with the runners-up position.

The Meerut team also began their tie-breaker’ on a shaky note, with Sandeep Singh’s shot being saved by Jamia goalkeeper Sudhir. But Devender Singh, Rajeev Panchal and Kuldeep made no mistake with their aims and ensured a deserving win for their team.

Chaudhary Charan Singh University thus avenged their defeat in the zonals although there was a stage in the match when things seemed to get out of hands as their players contested the umpire’s decisions. In the 20th minute, Ansari showed the green card to Meerut skipper Harjeet as his colleagues surroundered the official. Later when Ansari disallowed a goal by Bikramjeet in the seventh minute of the second half, following the team’s second penalty corner, the Meerut boys vehemently protested. They had to be finally calmed by the officials.

The match also became rough towards the end and Meerut team’s Rupesh Verma had to be carried off with an injury on his left knee.

Jamia took the lead in the 26th minute through Satish while Meerut equalised with a goal by Dinesh Kumar in the 57th minute.

The finalists were introduced to Dr Ramesh Chandra, Vice Chanvellor, Meerut University, before the start of the match. Prizes were given away by K P S Gill, President, Indian Hockey Federation, who appealed to the Indian Government to sanction astro-turf to the winners of inter-varsity championships.

Earlier, in the match to decide the third place, Delhi beat Aligarh Muslim University 2-0. Inside-left Rajdeep Singh, a member of the Combined Universities’ team, scored the first goal and also was responsible for his team’s second goal.