Former champs Indian Oil( IOL), Mumbai produced a slick performance and after leading 3-0 at half-time went on to record an authoritative 7-1 win against a subdued Army XI, Bengaluru 7-1 from their opening Pool ‘B’ 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 Wednesday afternoon. The tournament is being conducted under the auspices of Hockey India.
Army XI attacker Vijay Patil (right) attempts to get past a Indian Oil defender during their Pool-B league match
Indian Oil showed good understanding and worked well as a unit and went into the break with a commanding 3-0 lead. Veteran Prabhjot Singh showed that he still possess the finishing skills and the hunger for goals as he notched up a fine hat-trick to lead Indian Oil’s charge to victory. Gagandeep Singh got a brace of goals while Gurjinder Singh and skipper Deepak Thakur another seasoned campaigner, added one each for the oilmen. The Armymen pulled one back from a penalty corner conversion by Poovanna B. early in the first half.
Earlier in the afternoon, Western Railway survived a late scare from a young spirited Bombay Republicans before chugging to a narrow 3-2 victory in an all-Mumbai Pool ‘D’ league clash.
The former champions Western Railway started took off on the right track and hit the target through Nitin Tigga’s field effort in the 16th minute. The railway outfit doubled the lead when seasoned Rajin Kandulina fired home from close in the 35th minute.
The youngsters from Republicans side fought on gamely and managed to reduce the deficit with Navin Kheretkar successfully converting from a penalty corner in the 52nd minute. But six minutes later, Western struck their third goal through penalty corner specialist Amit Rohidas from a short corner.
Republicans continued to fight hard and got their second through Anurag Sharma in the 60th minute.
Results – Pool B: Indian Oil 7 (Gagandeep Singh 11, 20th, Prabhjot Singh 19th, 56th, 61st, Gurjinder Singh 53rd, Deepak Thakur 69th) beat Army XI 1 (Poovanna B. 42nd).
Pool D: Western Railway 3 (Nitin Tigga 16th, Rajin Kandulina 35th, Amit Rohidas 58th) beat Bombay Republicans 2 (Navin Kheretkar 52nd, Anurag Sharma 60th).
Thursday schedule:
2.30 pm: CAG vs Punjab National Bank – Pool ‘C’
4.30 pm: Indian Navy vs Western Railway – Pool ‘D’