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The Premier Hockey League on Sunday was a 8216;penalty corner8217; special. With matches involving Sandeep Singh, Len Aiyappa and Jugraj S...

The Premier Hockey League on Sunday was a 8216;penalty corner8217; special. With matches involving Sandeep Singh, Len Aiyappa and Jugraj Singh it was a contest for that all-important 8216;top hitter8217; tag of the country.

While in the morning session Jugraj turned up for Chandigarh Dynamos, the showcase game under lights later pitted Sandeep from Chennai Veerans against Len Aiyappa of Bangalore8217;s Hi-Flyers. The conclusion at the end of the two matches was simple: Post-injury Jugraj isn8217;t as good, and so are Sandeep and Aiyappa. As a result, India still await a genuine expert in the most important and productive department of the game.

Both Sandeep and Aiyappa had ample opportunities to show their wares but they couldn8217;t prove their credentials to be worthy successors of Jugrag. Sandeep did manage to impress with his speed and power but his first two shots were blanks.

He opened with a lightening shot that seemed to be heading for the net but Bangalore custodian Bharat Chetri8217;s brilliant reflexes saw him palming out the ball. Sandeep, finaly, found the net in the closing stages of the game but it was too late in the day 8212; Chennai had recorded their second straight loss after the 2-3 verdict.

Though Sandeep ended up on the losing side, he did win the personal battle against Aiyappa. The Bangalore penalty corner expert too scored a goal through but on the whole he wasn8217;t impressive. Aiyappa does have the speed and power but that8217;s all. Sandeep scored over Hi-Flyers with his accuracy.

To be fair to him, Aiyappa had limited opportunity with another world class PC expert in squad 8212; Kuhan Shanmuganathan 8212; in the ranks. Though the Malaysian didn8217;t score, technically he semed more proficient than the local lads.

Dynamos, Dazzlers win

In the Tier II game the 5-2 scoreline in favour of Chandigarh Dynamos against Imphal Rangers wasn8217;t the right indicator of the happenings of field. The young Manipur team conceded a penalty stroke in the 30th minute but restored parity within three minutes. Thereafter the Dynamos stepped up the tempo and Ravi Pal Singh and Harbhajan Singh made it 3-1 before Imphal came back through Brojen Singh but two short-corners by Mandeep Singh and Jugraj Singh made it 5-2. In the first match, Lucknow Nawabs lost 0-2 to Delhi Dazzlers despite dominating the proceedings throughout. It was the third straight win for the Dazzlers.ENS