International umpires Narender Singh (Delhi) and K Krishnamurthy (Karnataka) almost found themselves at the wrong end of the players' sticks as several of their decisions were disputed.

In the first half, Airlines forward Altaf-ur-Rehman started to retreat after `carrying' the ball inside the rival circle. Surprisingly, Narender blew for a penalty corner against Railways.

Appeals from Railways players and the intervention by Krishnamurthy prompted Narender to change his decision to a 16-yard hit.

In the second half, Narendar wrongly penalised Railways for `dangerous play' when, in fact, the ball rose off the stick of Airlines defender Dilip Tirkey. Railways skipper Marianos Ekka argued the decision and Narendar flashed the yellow card.

At the other end,Krishnamurthy allowed the second goal for Airlines, by Altaf, which led to a protest by Railways players, led by Brijnev Singh and Sunil Kumar, who physically threatened the umpire while claiming that Altaf had `carried' the ball before scoring.

Krishnamurthy stuck to his decision and packed off Brijnev with a yellow card while Narender stood rooted at the centre-line.

A little later, it was the turn of Brojen Singh (Airlines) to give vent to his disappointment by jostling Krishnamurthy who disallowed a goal saying the Airlines forward had struck the ball from outside the circle.

Brojen was lucky to get away with just a yellow card suspension.

The umpires have submitted a report on the incidents to the tournament director Mohammed Ghouse, who later said: ``I can't help the umpires all the time. They have to assert themselves on the ground. If I have to take all the decisions after the match is over, why do we need umpires?''