Hockey Karnataka, Bengaluru struck a winner at the death to script a close 2-1 win against South Central Railway, Secundrabad in a Pool ‘A’ league match of the Union Bank of India & IDBI Bank-51st All India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, organized by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. The tournament is being conducted under the auspices of Hockey India.
Hockey Karnataka players (yellow) and South Central Railway players are seen in action during their Pool-A league match of the MHAL organized 51st All India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday.
Later in the evening, Punjab National Bank, Delhi, recent winner of the All India Surjit Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament, were made to work hard for their 2-1 win against a plucky Delhi XI in Pool ‘C’. Punjab National Bank scored through Satinder Dalal in the 4th minute and Sumit Toppo in the 32nd minute, while Delhi XI got the lone goal through Sahil Gill in the 5th minute.
The Karnatak outfit has to thank both their goalkeepers Jagdeep Dalal and Mahan Gowda for making some brilliant saves to restrict the railwaymen to just one goal. The railway side were dominant in the second session but were unable to beat the Karnataka goalkeeper even from clear scoring opportunities.
After initial probing from both teams, Hockey Karnataka forged ahead when Kunjappa tapped Rathan Muthanna’s forward hit from the right side of the circle in the 34th minute.
South Central picked up steam in the second period and launched a series of attacks on the Karnataka citadel but they found goalkeeper Gowda a hard nut to crack. The Secundrabad outfit finally managed to find success when Arjun Yadav with a measured long through pass found Mayank James in the clear. James trapped the ball and coolly pushed past the onrushing Karnatak custodian Gowda in the 60th minute.
The railwaymen continued to press for another goal but continued to waste the chances that came their way and paid the price from the prodigality as Hockey Karnataka hit the target for the second time in the final minute. Sahil Gill did well to deflect home Vijay Kumar Maurya’s square pass from the right to help the Bengaluru side clinch a win.
In a Pool-C league match played late Monday evening under lights, last year’s runners-up CAG (Comptroller & Auditors General) were forced to share honours with a dogged Delhi XI in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Results – Pool C: Punjab National Bank, Delhi 2 (Satinder Dalal 4th, Sumit Toppo 32nd) beat Delhi XI 1 (Sahil Gill 5th).
Pool A: Hockey Karnataka 2 (Kunjappa KT 34th, Cariappa KT 69th) beat South Central Railway 1 (Mayank James 60th).
Pool C: Delhi XI 3 (Simpinder Singh 12th, Vijay Kumar Maurya 19th, Arun Kumar 70th) drew with CAG (Azim Baig 22nd, V. Shanmugam 45th, Nitin Thimmaiah 54th).
Wednesday schedule:
2.30 pm: Western Railway vs Bombay Republicans – Pool ‘D’
4.30 pm: Indian Oil vs Army XI – Pool ‘B’
6.30 pm: Punjab & Sind Bank vs South Central Railway – Pool ‘D’