Smooth take-off for Indian Airlines

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" justify="">HYDERABAD: The big names in the Indian Airlines line up — national captain Dilip Tirkey, mercurial Dhanraj Pillay and Prabodh Tirkey — didn''t show-up. It did not matter, though, on Thursday as Arjun Halappa scored four goals to subdue Maharashtra.<br /><br />At the final hooter, the scoreline read 8-2 in their favour on Day One of the 61st Senior National men''s hockey championship. Altaf-ur-Rehman, Sameer Dad, Brojen Singh and Virender scored a goal each to complete the tally for Airlines.<br /><br />The defending champions looking for a hat-trick of titles kick-started their campaign on the right note. Though the symphony played out at the Begumpet Astro-turf by the 1999 and 2000 champions was not jarring, a few missed notes were noticed.<br /><br />In the absence of Sandip Singh, who is at the Junior National camp, the airmen missed a short-corner specialist and missed out on four penalty corners.<br /><br />At the other end in the absence of Tirkey, the defence looked shaky and conceded two goals against a weak opponent. Lazarus Barla and Mohammad Shakeel and co will have to get their act together at the back, if they want a smooth progress to the knock-out stage.<br /><br />The forward line though worked like a well-oiled machine. Halappa, Dad, Brojen, Girish Pimple and Virender looked sharp and would be bolstered by the arrival of Sandeep Michael.<br /><br />Halappa seemed to have put behind his disappointing performance in the PHL. The India forward’s four goals, included one off a penalty stroke. <br /><br />In other matches in the morning session, Karnataka struggled to a 2-0 win against lowly Jammu and Kashmir, while Tripura defeated Nagaland 1-0.</div> </div>