Malem stars in Cottons' triumph

Malem, who fired three goals in Cottonians’ semifinal victory, turned out to be the hero once again, sounding the board in the 14th and 53rd minutes in a floodlit final at the KSHA stadium.For his strong show throughout the tournament, Malem was adjudged the player of the tournament.

Cottonians did take some time to settle in after which they completely dominated their oponents who looked disoriented.

Earlier, Malem opened the Cottonians’ account with a neatly-converted penalty corner before wrapping up a fine win with a solo effort in the second half.

Individual awards: Best forward: Malen K (Bishop Cotton Boys School); Best midfielder: Akarsh N (St Germain High School); Best defender: Rishop Shetty (FAPS); Best goalkeeper: Pranay Kumar Singh (Bishop Cotton); Most promising player: Sandeep Barik (Rashtriya Military School); Fairplay Trophy: Maria Niketan High School.

Deepu shines
KP Deepu slammed a golden goal to help Army Service Corps score a 2-1 win over Sports Authority of India ‘A’ in the semifinals of the Travancore Cup hockey tournament on Friday.

In a charged-up semifinal, Deepak brought SAI back into the contest with a 69th minute equaliser after AK Maji had put ASC in front in the 36th minute.However, Deepu made sure ASC had the last laugh, finishing off a fine piece of move in the fourth minute of extra time.

In Saturday’s final ASC will lock horns with Army Green, who blanked Central Excise 4-0.
Results (all semifinals): Army Green: 4 (Manish Bhengra 17th, Kalyan Bhengra 44th, Niraj Tigga 63rd, 69th) bt Central Excise: 0; ASC: 2 (AK Maji 36th, KP Deepu 74th) bt SAI ‘A’: 1 (Deepak 69th) via Golden goal.