The final of the 116th Beighton Cup Tournament, the oldest Field Hockey tournament in the world was played in Kolkata on the SAI Complex Astro Turf pitch on the 11th Nov, 2011 between the ONGC and the Indian Oil. The Indian Oil in yellow was led by Vikram Kanth and the ONGC in black was led by Tyron. Indian Oil reached the final by beating the favorites Air India 1-0 in the semifinals and ONGC beat Punjab National Bank 2-1.
The Final Match of the 116th Beighton Cup Tournament in Kolkata
The final match started on an even keel which tilted towards the Indian Oil as they established their dominance through the superior midfield play of Vikram Kanth. He drove the whole team playing as holding midfielder effecting turnovers and making the transition into the attack by distributing beautiful passes to his teammates. While the ONGC made quite a few moves along the flanks through the brothers Sandeep and Mandeep Antil buit the moves were ultimately spoiled by the attackers Preetinder Singh and Vivek Gupta and who depended on individual play and fell easy prey to the Indian Oil defence. On the contrary, the Indian Oil men were making penetrating raids through Bharat Chikkara, Deedar Singh and Dharamvir Singh with solid back up from Vikram Kanth. Bharat Chikkara in particular showed the ability to go for the second tackle whenever the ONGC succeeded in effecting a turnover, something not a very strong point with Indian forwards.
Midway in the first half, a high scoop by Vikram Kanth was tapped in by an Indian Oil forward into the goal. While one umpire initially awarded a goal, the ONGC players protested, surrounded and badgered him to change his decision. The other Umpire ruled in favour of dangerous play and the award of goal was reversed. Diwakar Ram wasted two penalty corners, driving the ball straight into the defenders. One such penalty corner hit the thigh of an Indian Oil defender, while the Umpire awarded anther penalty corner. This time the Indian Oil defenders surrounded the umpire and needlessly argued with him. Both teams set poor examples for the huge crowd of school children who were watching the match by arguing with the umpire.
The first goal for the Indian Oil came in the 58th minute as the opportunist Affan Yusuf scored brilliantly off a right wing pass by pushing it past the left side of Dinesh Ekka, the ONGC custodian. Bharat Chikkara made it 2-0, also off a right wing pass. The young boy Affan Yusuf showed exceptional position sense and anticipation throughout the game and narrowly missed scoring a second goal.
But the spectacular display came from the Indian Oil custodian Baljit Singh, after the ONGC tried to make a desperate comeback into the game. He padded off a Diwakar Ram penalty corner and then either padded off or palmed off three quick hits off the rebound. Moments later he stopped another rasping hit from Mandip Antil. It was an unbelievable performance from a goalkeeper who had been declared medically unfit to play for India for the unfortunate injury in his right eye he sustained from a golf ball during a practice session last year. But all the fight went out of ONGC after the quicksilver saves made by Baljit Singh and soon the final hooted blew drawing curtains on the match. Indian Oil was awarded Rs. one Lakh prize money from the BHA and one lakh from the West Bengal Govt, as announced by Mr Madan Mitra, the Sports Minister. Baljit Singh, the Indian Oil Goalkeeper was adjudged the man of the match and was given a cash award of Rs 25000/- each from the BHA as well as the Govt of West Bengal.
Dr Shankar Kumar Chatterjee
Tags: Astro Turf, Beighton Cup, Hockey, Indian Oil, Kolkata, ONGC, SAI Complex
