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Beighton Cup being one of the oldest hockey events in India came to a finish on 14th November, 2013.
The tournament has a history of more than a 100 Years and was an initiative by the British officials in the late 19th century to popularize the game of Hockey amongst soldiers in India. The tournament was conceived by the Bengal Hockey Association in 1895. The tournament has been a rich exposure for the Indian Hockey sportsmen. Even the legendary Dhyan Chand has mentioned about the tournament’s contribution in improving the standards of the game. He mentioned in one speech that, it is one of the finest tournaments in Hockey since 1895 and the availability of ample grounds allows this tournament to be conducted every year in Kolkata. The tournament was not even affected by World Wars I and II.
The 118th edition of the Beighton Cup was played between 28th October and 14th November, 2013. The semi finalists of the tournament were ONGC, Air India, Army XI and Indian Oil teams. In the first semifinal ONGC defeated Air India by 3-2. The second semifinal was in favour of Army XI as they crushed Indian Oil by 5-4 to enter the finals.
The final of the tournament was played on Thursday, 14th November, 2013. Army XI had a flying start as they led the board by 2-0 in the initial 10 minutes of the game. A.P.Siraju and Arumugam scored the goals for Army XI in the 5th and 10th minute respectively. The third goal from Army XI came from P.K. Milan in the 17th minute. ONGC soon tried to make a comeback and scored a couple of goals. The half time score was 3-2 in favour of Army XI.
In the second half of the match, the spirited game from ONGC managed to level the score by 3-3 with a smashing goal of Mandeep Antil in the 60th minute. In the crucial last moments, A.P. Siraju scored his second goal of the match in the 66th minute to fetch Army XI victory in the finals.
