Stanley Club members pose with the trophy after winning the tournament. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, Sept. 21: The 14-day rural hockey tournament, organised by the Rourkela Steel Plant, came to an end this evening at Biju Pattnaik Hockey Stadium with Stanley Club of Chhend emerging as the winner.

Stanley Club defeated Rajeev Club of Samaleimunda 3-0. The first half saw the winning team scoring one goal, and the other two were scored in the second half. Played on the synthetic turf, the match was fast-paced.

In the women’s category, Shieljore Team defeated the Ranto Kanyashram School in a tiebreaker, after the teams drew the match 2-2 in the stipulated time. However, a minor controversy surfaced with complaints about the Shieljore team having players, who were earlier in the sports hostel of Jharkhand. Following this, the team had to play with nine players as four were asked to sit out.

The winner in the men’s category received prize money of Rs 10,000, while the runners-up team got Rs 8,000. In the women’s category, the winners received Rs 8,000 and the runners-up team Rs 6,000.

A total of 84 teams were in the fray — 78 men’s and six women’s. Minati Mohapatra, the steel plant’s deputy general manager (sports cell), who is also the Arjun Award winner, said: “We have been giving the right forum to the rural talents in the district through this tournament.”

Football league

The first Rourkela Football League concluded today with Rajgangpur team defeating Banposh 1-0 in the finals.

The tournament, which drew a large crowd, was played among eight teams.

Despite the rain, the players gave their best and the spectators sat through the match. Suresh Kujur scored the all-important goal in the 68th minute.

The winners received a prize money of Rs 10,000, while the runners-up team from Banposh received Rs 8,000. Prem Kissan, goalkeeper of the Banposh team, was adjudged man of the tournament.

M. Ray, secretary of the Rourkela Sports Association, said: “The exercise intended to generate interest in the game. This time, we got eight teams, and in the coming days, we will have more teams taking part in the event.”