Chennai, July 26 (IANS) After what could be described only as a neck-and-neck contest, defending champions Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) emerged victorious in the final of the 89th All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament, defeating Army XI 3-2 in the final here on Sunday.

Hamza Mujtaba (15th), skipper Deepak Thakur (48th) and Didar Singh (55th) scored for IOC while Army’s response came from Pawal Lakra (4th) and Chandan Aind (65th).

The match seemed to be a fight between equals right up to the half-time after which the competition got hotter by the minute.

The final few minutes saw frantic attempts by both teams to firm up their positions in the match. With the aplomb shown in the earlier matches too, former Indian star Thakur led IOC from the front, finally guiding them to victory.

As the winning team, IOC took home the prize money of Rs.5 lakh, and runners-up team Army XI received Rs.2.50 lakh.