Sans recruitment, IOB forced to play with guest players

IOB had to endure the pain of another loss at the finishing hurdle when they went down to RCF, Kapurthala 0-3 in the final of the eighth edition of Lakshmi Ammal memorial all-India hockey tournament at Kovilpatti on Sunday. IOB coach M. Arif Ahmed was proud of his team’s performance despite limitations. “I have no qualms in admitting that we lost to a better team. Young blood is the need of the hour in teams and it is unfortunate that we don’t have new recruitment. We played the tournament with four guest players, which is becoming the norm these days” said Arif. 

With the average age of the bench strength being 35 years, Arif said this was the maximum they can do with the available talent and exposure. “We have players who are 36 years old and it is difficult to compete at this level without new players. We have just played two tournaments in the year so far and we won one (Chennai league) and finished runners-up in Kovilpatti. Budgetary issue is a road block too. Lack of match temperament and exposure adds to our list of worries,” Arif added.

Arif reserved his best for Sunil, a guest player from Kovilpatti who is a student at SRM University. “He was outstanding as a fullback. Hockey needs players like him and I hope we succeed in getting him on board very soon,” the coach added.

Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala defeated Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai 3-0 to win the eighth edition of Lakshmi Ammal memorial all-India hockey tournament at Kovilpatti on Sunday.

Gourav Jeet Singh scored the first goal for RCF through a penalty corner and Ajmer Singh doubled the lead with a stupendous field goal. Singh added one more to his kitty later to finish with a brace. 

In an earlier match played between East Coast Railways, Odisha, and RCF, Mumbai, the former prevailed over the latter by two goals to one. East Coast Railway took the third place and RCF, Mumbai finished fourth. 

State Minister for Information and Public Relations, Kadambur C.Raju, distributed prizes to the winners. Bharat Chetri, and Mohammed Riaz, Olympians and former Indian players, were the special guests at the valedictory.