Murugappa Gold Cup – The Hindu

Defence held centerstage as teams ended up producing low-scoring matches on the opening day of the 96th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup invitation hockey tournament at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Thursday.

Host Tamil Nadu held Maharashtra 1-1 in a Pool-A contest while Karnataka shut out Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) 2-1 in Pool-B.

Both the matches were engaging with fast breakthroughs, the defence and midfield in unision. But in the final third, the forwards kept striking a discordant note. More often than not, it was the defence that held strong.

Maharashtra opened the account against the host. Rohan Patil converted a penalty corner when his strike hit the middle of the net in the second quarter. An inconsistent Tamil Nadu struck back through star forward B. P. Somanna, whose grounder off a penalty corner went through the left leg of goalkeeper Shivratna Rasal in the third.

Rohan Patil struck for Maharastra.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

There was little to separate CBDT and Karnataka in the second and final match of the day. Both attacked with vigour and purpose, but faltered in the final third, till the second quarter.

As the match was heading for a climax, Rahul’s backhand flick off a long corner in the dying minutes of the third quarter provided the needed spark for Karnataka. Bharath Mahalingappa’s blistering penalty corner strike hit the right side of the roof in the fourth, which pretty much sealed the contest in favour of Karnataka.

The results: Pool-A: HUTN 1 (B.P. Somanna 42) drew with Maharashtra 1 (Rohan Patil 15). B: Karnataka 2 (C. J. Rahul 45, Bharath Mahalingappa 52) bt CBDT 1 (Pranam Gowda 56).