Nitin Tomar and Nitesh Kumar score crucial points as host UP Yoddha finally scores a victory at home defeating Telugu Titans on the final day of action.
Lucknow: Mercurial raider Nitin Tomar showed urgency just when it needed and kept his nerves in tact till the end in a contest that went to the wire before the home team snapped up two raid points at 23-22 and scored their first home win, here on Thursday.
Tomar may have scored just 6 points in Yoddha’s 25-23 win at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, but his all-inclusive game-plan and the ability to control his nerves helped the home team score the famous win.
“We were mostly playing a catching-up game, but I had confidence in my team. It had been a difficult week for us and we wanted to score a win in front of home fans,” said Tomar.
With four minutes remaining in the match, Telugu Titans improved their lead to 22-20 thanks to Mohsen Maghsoudlou’s successful raid.
The way a series of empty raids wasted time midway through the second half, Tomar decided to take the matters in his hands and went about resurrecting Yoddha’s fortunes.
He went in and completed a successful raid (21-22) with the clock showing three minutes for the finish.
There were three empty raids, two from Telugu and one from Yoddha before the home team took time-out. On resumption, Tomar snapped up one points to bring both the teams at par (22-22) and when Telugu Titan’s Rahul Chaudhari went in for his raid, Tomar effected the tackle and UP went ahead once again.
Some 48 seconds showed on the clocked when Tomar again raced in and earned bonus and a touch point to send the packed stadium into delirium.
The UP fans, who were waiting for first win of their team, finally saw some light as when Tomar returned the clock had just eight seconds on the screen.
Telugu Titans were handed one point easily as UP Yoddha realised that the clock had gone past the time.
“We played with heart out all the matches, but luck was not with us all these days. So many close matches, but I am happy that we are moving to Leg 5 in Mumbai on a winning note,” rounded off Tomar.
