Khaja Mian trounce Christu Raja 4-0 for title
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Khaja Mian HSS packed a punch with a sublime showing that was every bit befitting of a champion team as they condemned a below-par Christu Raja HSS to a 4-0 pasting in the final of the A.S. Vedanayagam memorial 10th state level inter-school hockey tournament at the MRK Stadium on Monday.
Right from the outset there was only ever one team that looked like winning and Khaja made their intentions clear by dominating possession and allowing very little breathing space to their opponents.
Seldom did Christu Raja’s ace centre-forward J. Karthick, who later bagged the award for the best forward of the tournament, got to make contact with the sphere as Khaja’s Santhosh Kumar made the most of some inept defending to score his team’s opening goal through a PC in the ninth minute.
Were it not for a timely reflex save by P.Nambi, Khaja would have gone into the break with a two-goal lead. The game which appeared to be meandering along at a sedate pace suddenly sprang to life when Karthick, who only had a peripheral role until then had a shot at goal which was thwarted by the watchful Khaja goal-keeper P. Gokulakrishnan. That one hit apart Christu never threatened and worse still never looked capable of scoring.
There was no end in sight to Christu’s woes as upon resumption, Khaja continued their dominance by doubling their tally.
Santhosh Kumar was in the thick of things again as he dodged brilliantly past his two markers and rounded the goal-keeper Ranga to score what was to be the second of his three goals. That second goal proved to be the final nail in the coffin of a battered Christu, whose coach M. Raja cut a forlorn figure on the touchline.
What stood out in Khaja’s impressive performance was that despite victory being well within their grasp they didn’t let their guard down and were intent on finishing the job at hand. Things went from bad to worse for Christu when Manikandan piled on their agony with a thunderous backhander to make it 3-0.
Khaja’s goal-keeper Gokulakrishnan will certainly take back fond memories from this match as he did everything that was asked of him and deservedly won the best goal-keeper award.
In the end the scoreline was a true reflection of the supremacy asserted by Khaja over their beleaguered rivals, who on the basis of their abject performance in the final weren’t worthy of a second place finish.
Olympian Mohammed Riaz gave away the prizes.
Results
Khajamian HSS (Tiruchy) 4 (Santhosh 9, 33, 59, Manikandan 48) bt Christu Raja HSS (Tirunelveli) 0.
Special awards
Best goalkeeper of the tournament: P. Gokula Krishnan (Khajamian Hr.Sec. School, Tiruchy). Best full-back: P.Nambi (Christu Raja Higher Secondary School, Tirunelveli).
Best half-line of the tournament: Prabhu (YMCA Sports School). Best forward: J.Karthick (Christu Raja Hr.Sec.School, Tirunelveli).
Upcoming players: A.T.Chandra Kumar (Don Bosco Hr.Sec.School, Perambur). S.Balaji (St.Paul's Hr.Sec.School), Jeeva Kumar (YMCA Sports School), Santhosh Kumar (Khajamain Hr.Sec. School, Tiruchy) and Judson (Christu Raja Hr.Sec.School, Tirunelveli).
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