New Delhi, June 21: When two equally-matched hockey teams clash, the scorers are usually the least taxed. On the other hand, an uneven match-up can have them reaching out for a spare refill. This was nearly the case today at the 29th Junior National hockey championship as Air-India and Orissa opened their Group H league campaigns in contrasting style. In Air-India's case, it was 23-0 against Maharashtra while the Orissa-Services tie troubled the scorers only once, to the former's benefit.

In the other matches played today, Pondicherry defeated Tripura 3-1, Border Security Force beat Madhya Bharat 4-2 and Madhya Pradesh defeated Rajasthan 5-1.

The match between Orissa and Servives was a story of missed chances. Orissa, boosted by the presence of international player Dilip Tirkey, started confidently forcing a penalty corner in the third minute itself. Not only did they waste all the 12 penalty corners they got but also muffed numerous scoring chances. Captain Dilip Tirkey, who will soon fly out to fulfil his committments with the Bangladesh league, was guilty of missing most of these chances, and yet saved the day for his side with a few brilliant goalline saves.

The newly formed Services team too displayed tremendous fighting spirit but their forwards lacked bite. Their aggression was offset by their lack of finish, especially during the penalty corners.

In the event, with both teams determined to excel, the match seemed to be heading for a draw after a barren first half. The deadlock was broken late in the 67th minute, when Orissa's Abhaya Kumar Samanray, had the final say with a scoop during a goalmouth melee.

In contrast, the Air-India Maharashtra was a mis-match. There was no limit on goals here. The Air-India Academy players scored with monotonous regularity, as Gagan Ajit Singh headed the tally with a dozen goals included two hat-tricks. Ankit Gupta (5), captain Rajesh Chauhan (2), Manoj Ekka (1), Sanjay Kumar (1), Dizen Singh (1) and Rishi Patel (1) were the other scorers for Air-India.

BSF, making their debut in the championship, dominated the proceedings and the victory margin is not the true indication of their overwhelming superiority.

The way securitymen muffed chances was bewildering, they virtually had Madhya Bharat goal at their mercy but the forwards turned out to be poor marksmen.

It was Madhya Bharat who rattled BSF by taking 2-0 lead in first 19 minutes. However, it was too good to last for Madhya Bharat and they finally lost but not before denting the reputation of their famed rivals.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.