India Dark Blues win final

India Dark Blues (IDB) edged past India Light Blues (ILB) in the final to emerge champions at the 16th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament which concluded at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.

The match was decided on the basis of tie-breaker after the sides were tied 1-1 in regulation time. In the tie-breaker, IDBs got the better of ILBs 4-2 to lift the trophy.

ILBs took early lead in the 14th minute through a William Xalxo goal off a penalty corner.

IDBs spoilt several chances before hitting back in the 34th minute as an opportune Jaswinder Singh pushed a ball from the melee to equalise the scores at 1-1.

In the second half, the IDBs failed repeatedly in execution whereas the ILBs could not create many a chance from the middle.

Bimal Lakra and Jaswinder Singh shone for IDBs, while Ajmer Singh and Hari Prasad played well for ILBs. As the match went into the tie-breaker, star players Jugraj Singh and Prabodh Tirkey disappointed the crowd by failing to score. While Jugraj shot the ball above the post, Prabodh's hit was saved by IDB goalie Bharat Chetri.

However, Vikram Pillay and Dhananjay Mahadik were the successful scorers for ILBs.

But that was not enough to stop IDBs from snatching the title as Kanwalpreet Singh, Suresh Kumar, Didar Singh and Harpal Singh struck home for them.

Prabodh Tirkey was nominated as the best player of the tournament. The fair play trophy went to Youngster Hockey Club, Pakistan.