Hosts meet Flicker Brothers in hockey final
: Hosts and defending champions UP Grace will take on Flicker Brothers in the final of the 32nd All-India KD Singh ‘Babu’ Under-14 Boys Hockey Tournament, at the Padma Shri Mohd Shahid Synthetic Hockey Stadium here on Monday.
In the two semi-finals on Sunday, UP Grace defeated Hockey Haryana by a solitary goal, whereas Haryana’s Flicker Brothers defeated Naval Tata Hockey (Odisha) by 4-0. Samad Khan scored for UP, whereas Neeraj, Damandeep Singh, Manav and Shubhdeep Singh netted for the Flicker Brothers.
Playing an aggressive hockey from the very start, hosts forged into lead in the 11th minute with Samad Khan converting a penalty corner (1-0). But thereafter, they kept struggling to extend the lead till the end as in the remaining three quarters, Haryana boys kept the local boys under control. They too couldn’t open their account despite having a few chances in the second half.
It was a ding-dong battle in the second semi-final as Flicker Brothers forwards kept struggling against Odisha’s outfits in the first two quarters. Things changed dramatically after a change in the ends as Neeraj struck from the right side to open the account in the 40th minute (1-0) and within five minutes time, Damandeep Singh converted penalty corner to take the score 2-0 at the break.
With 2-0 lead early in the second half, Flicker Brothers forwards came with some fine showing, dribbling and passing the ball well. Their repeated efforts paid them rich dividends as Manav slotted an easy ball to home in the 53rd minute to add one more goal to team’s tally before Shubhdeep Singh sounding the board on a penalty corner to complete the formality on the last minute of 60-minute duel. Much before the final between UP Grace and Flicker Brothers in the evening, Naval Tata Academy will take on Hockey Haryana in the hardline match at 7.30 a.m.