The experience and the might of Indian Railways was too much to handle for a young Hockey Karnataka side as the former scripted a 5-2 victory in the final of the 94th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup all-India hockey tournament on Sunday. The hero of the match was drag-flick expert and former junior international Pratap Lakra, who scored a hat-trick. Railways pretty much closed out the contest in the third quarter. Pratap scored twice off PC’s and one off a penalty stroke. Trailing 3-1 at the end of two quarters, with Lakra scoring all the goals, Karnataka knew that it had lost the plot. Hockey Karnataka has been a revelation here. Comprising players whose average age is 23 years, it showed a heart and a stomach for a fight throughout the tournament. The results (final): Indian Railways 5 (Pratap Lakra 2, 24 (PS) & 29, Ajit Pandey 36, Deepak 42) bt Hockey Karnataka 2 (Thrishul Ganapathi 17, Chethan Karisiri 52). Man of the match: Pratap Lakra. Special prizes: best forward of the tournament: Yuvraj Walmiki (Indian Railways); best midfielder: Mukul Sharma (Indian Railways); best defender / goalkeeper: Naveen Kumar (goalkeeper, Central Secretariat); most promising player:
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