Indian Oil lift Shastri hockey title

New Delhi:

A golden goal by Deepak Thakur helped Indian Oil lift the Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey title scraping past Indian Airlines in the final. After the score was tied 1-1 at the end of the regulation time, Thakur scored the all-important goal from a penalty corner five minutes into the extra time as Airlines' jinx in the finals of major domestic tournament continued. But today Airlines were to be blamed for their debacle, which came close on the heels of their Nehru Cup final loss to Punjab Police last week, as they failed to play to their full potential and frittered away umpteen chances in the last few minutes of the regulation time. They sorely missed the services of captain Dilip Tirkey, whose absence led to defensive lapses and Indian Oil fully exploited it to create several scoring opportunities. Missed chances Indian Airlines even blew away their lead, given to them in the very first minute of the match by Arjun Halappa, and their senior-most player Mukesh Kumar failed to score what looked like a sure goal minutes before the hooter indicated the end of the regulation time. Indian Oil also had their share of chances to close out the match before extra time but Airlines hung on to stretch the match, thanks to some poor finishing by their opponents. After the match, Indian Oil coach A K Bansal said that his team should have won the match by the regulation time itself and the margin should have been at least three goals. (PTI)