Gurjant Singh emerged as Punjab Police's hero as they beat Punjab and Sind Bank 10-9 in sudden death tie-breaker to lift the DDA Invitational Hockey title at the Shivaji Stadium at New Delhi on Friday.
Today's win was also a sweet revenge for the policemen, who had lost to PSB in the final of the DCM Sriram Hockey tournament at Kota last month. The cops went home richer by Rs 2 lakh while the runners-up got a purse of Rs 1 lakh.
Gurjant wrong footed the PSB custodian on his team's 10th penalty stroke after Harpreet Singh's push was saved by Punjab Police goalkeeper Manpreet Singh.
Both the team's were locked 1-1 after the full time and since the tie could not be broken even after the 15 minute extra time the match went into tie-breaker.
That also failed to break the deadlock as the two teams were level at 6-6 at the end of the tie-breaker forcing the match into a sudden death.
The same story repeated as both teams converted their first three strokes in sudden death as the score read 9-9.
Then Police got a golden opportunity when Rupinder Singh of PSB hit wide. But Kuljit Singh failed to pack any punch in his push as the ball barely reached the PSB goalkeeper.
Earlier, Police were forced on the back foot from the very beginning as Ravi Pal gave PSB the lead in the sixth minute. With sharp showers creating puddles of water on the synthetic turf, the game progressed at a slow pace. Police restored parity in the 21st minute. The cops, who were pressing hard for the equailiser, took advantage of a melee inside the PSB box and Jagbir Singh deflected in a cross from the left flank.
After the change of ends, both Punjab and Sind Bank and Punjab Police failed to find the target and barring a couple of threatening moves by PSB, there was little to cheer for the supporters.
PSB got one final chance with just a minute to go when they forced the first and only penalty corner of the match. But in the end they failed to convert, attempting an indirect variation.
