KalingaTimes Correspondent
Cuttack (Orissa), April 20: Packed with as many as half-a-dozen tribal boys, the Angul district team dethroned last year's champion Orissa Police by two goals to one in the final to win the Nalco state hockey championship here at Barabati stadium on Saturday.

The final match played under the floodlights in presence of a handful of hockey enthusiasts was electrifying with both the teams attacking the opposition goalmouth repeatedly from the beginning. In fact all the three goals that were scored in the match came in the first half of the game.

The Angul boys took an early lead when its forward Sunil Toppo hit the Orissa police board by a fine field goal just in the 14th minute of the match. The cops however, drew level eight minutes after through a Pratap Lugun flicker.

The high-pitched match at times was running into frequent tensions with players from both the sides losing temper and control over the ball and the game.

The first half saw as many as 10 attempts made by each side attacking the opposition goal posts and both the goalies had a busy outing in the field.

In the 33rd minute of the game Angul team stroked for the second time when its captain Sunil Kujjur converted a penalty corner to give its side a 2-1 lead.

When both the sides went for the breather, it was believed that the second half of the match would be more ferocious and few more goals would be scored. But to everybody's surprise, the second half went goalless although the Orissa cops made some valiant attempts to tear apart the Angul defense.

Contained with the lead, the Angul boys played more defensively in the second half. Barring a few moves by the forwards, the team was more interested to maintain the lead by concentrating on its defense.

Although, the reigning champions utilised all its experience and the paltry crowd strongly throwing their weight behind them, the cops could not equalise and lost the match.

A total of 15 teams, including Orissa police, Nalco and Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) participated in the championship organized by the Orissa Hockey Association (OHA).

Orissa High Court judge Justice A S Naidu inaugurated the championship last week and in the inaugural match, also played under floodlights, Orissa Police had outplayed the Nalco team.

Joining as chief guest on the final match, Justice M M Das of High Court gave away trophies to the winners and runners-up teams. The OHA president and former state finance minister R K Patnaik and Secretary Pratap Kumar Satapathy along with other members of the association conducted the tournament successfully.