NABHA: EME, Jalandhar, defeated CRPF, Jalandhar, 2-1 in the final to emerge champion in the 40th GS Bains Liberals all-India hockey tournament at PPS hockey grounds, on Saturday.
HT PHOTOThe winners — EME, Jalandhar — posing with the trophy on Sunday.Chief parliamentary secretary (tourism) Sant Balvir Singh Ghunas presided over the closing ceremony and gave away prizes to the winning and runners-up teams.
The winners were awarded `1 lakh while the runners-up received `50,000.
The chief guest also announced a grant of `2 lakhs for the organisers.
CRPF, Jalandhar, started on a positive note and managed to earn a penalty corner in the 19th minute. Bikash Kujur stepped up to the occasion and converted the penalty corner to put CRPF Jalandhar ahead.
After toiling hard for almost half an hour, EME Jalandhar finally managed to restore parity when Rakesh Minz scored the equalising goal for the team in the 52nd minute. Minz dribbled past CRPF defenders and sounded the board. Two minutes later, EME Jalandhar went 2-1 up as Biju Singh scored from a defencesplitting pass from Gurmeet Singh.
Despite their best efforts, EME Jalandhar managed to hold on to the lead and eked out a hard-fought 2-1 win to clinch the trophy.