Sultans ride their luck, Veerans rue theirs

HYDERABAD: Even the gods seem to be against the Chennai Veerans. Coach Harendra Singh’s mid-week trip to Tirupathi to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara couldn’t prevent his team from slumping to another defeat in the Premier Hockey League here on Saturday despite an improved show.
For once, the Veerans dominated the first session and but a penalty stroke miss by defender William Xalxo early in the first quarter proved costly as Hyderabad Sultans escaped to a 2-1 victory to move up to 12 points from five matches. The Veerans continued to lie in the bottom without any point. Sher-e-Jallandhar and Bangalore Hi-Fliers are at eight points each while Maratha Warriors have five points.
With senior IHF officials including president KPS Gill, here for Sunday’s AGM, watching from the stands, junior India player Ajitesh Rai opened the scoring for Hyderabad Sultans early in the third quarter after a barren first half.
However, even before the applause from the home crowd had died down, fellow youngster Adam Sinclair put Veerans on level footing but their joy too was short-lived as Pakistani veteran Wasim Ahmed scored the winner for the home team midway through the third quarter.
Though the match witnessed some fast action, the overall fare was mediocre with teams unable to make use of some good chances.
Chandigarh dominate: In tier-II, with the title virtually in their pocket, the only point of interest for Chandigarh Dynamos on the concluding day on Sunday will be whether they would be able to keep their unbeaten record intact. Having won all their six matches till Saturday, they swamped Bengal Tigers 9-0 in their penultimate match to move to 21 points from seven matches.
In another match in this division, Imphal Rangers overcame Lucknow Nawabs 4-3.