ICF savours success

Chennai: Success is always sweet. And it’s sweeter when it comes after a long time. ICF tasted the fruit of their hard work after beating Southern Railway 4-1 in the final of the D.S. Rajamanickam memorial state level hockey tournament at the MRK Stadium on Sunday.

ICF hadn’t won a state tournament in Chennai for many years. Their long wait was finally over. R. Suresh Babu, coach of the victorious team, and his players were jubilant.

Suresh Babu said the title was a “boost” for his team ahead of the inter-railway championship in March. “The triumph here is a great way to end 2013. We will look ahead to the New Year with hope,” he added.

According to the ICF coach, doing well in the tournament was important for his team. “We finished second in the city league and I feel it was an outstanding achievement. I wanted my players to maintain the consistency in this event. I’m delighted that we have won the title,” he said.

The champions took home Rs 1 lakh. “The prize money is impressive for a state level event. We just played three matches for the huge prize money. Even in the league, where we played more than 10 matches, we received only Rs 30,000 for finishing second.

The organisers of the Rajamanickam memorial tournament deserve credit for offering attractive cash prizes,” Suresh Babu said.

The elated coach set his sights on the inter-railway championship, which is his team’s most important tournament every year. “We have a competent, youthful team. If we recruit a couple of forwards before the inter-railway championship, we would be even more competitive. Our show here, I hope, will help us in recruitment,” he said.

Suresh Babu said beating Southern Railway 7-3 in the city league had given his side confidence ahead of the final. “Defeating a team like Railway by such a big margin is always difficult. One of the advantages of playing Railway is there is no need to motivate my players. The rivalry between ICF and Railway in local hockey is fierce,” he added.

ICF took a giant step towards winning the title by taking a 2-0 lead within the first 15 minutes. Fullback R. Ashok Kumar converted two of his team’s first three penalty corners to land a psychological blow on Railway. “The early lead was critical to our win. Thanks to our goalkeeper Udaya Kumar’s stellar work in the first half, we never allowed Railway to stage a comeback.

Charles took his brace with élan to put us 4-0 ahead. Had we not relaxed a little bit after the break, we would have won by a bigger margin,” Suresh Babu said. ICF have bagged the bragging rights in Chennai railway and the challenging task of proving themselves at the national level awaits them now.