Drag-flicker Jugraj Singh was in his elements and scored four goals to pilot Indian Navy, Mumbai to a convincing 5-2 win against Hockey Bhopal in a Group-B league match of the 14th PMC Bank-All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup hockey tournament and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Sunday. Navy went into the break with a 2-0 lead.
Indian Navy enjoyed smooth sailing from the start, but they had to wait till the 17th minute to forge ahead when Jugraj with a direct penalty corner hit beat Bhopal goalkeeper Abdul Samad. Nine minutes later he scored from a penalty stroke which was awarded by umpire Javed Shaikh after Amit Goswami was stick checked by a Hockey Bhopal defender.
After the change of ends, Navy earned another penalty stroke when Pawan Rajbhar’s shot from a penalty corner struck the foot of a defender on the goalline and umpire Keerthi Muthappa awarded a penalty stroke in the 40th minute. Jugraj scored again to complete his hat-trick and put Navy 3-0 ahead.
However, 10 minutes later, Hockey Bhopal reduced the deficit when Vikas Choudhry combined nicely with Shakir Hussain who in turn pushed the ball into the open for Taj Khan to tap home. Hockey Bhopal scored for the second time when Choudhry swirled round a defender and with a firm reverse hit sounded the boards in the 57th minute to cut the lead to 2-3.
But, Jugraj was on target for the time scoring from another penalty corner to increase the lead in the 62nd minute before Aakib Rahim hammered home the fifth with an angular drive from the top of the circle in the 64th minute.
Earlier, Central Secretariat, Delhi charged to a 4-2 win against local challengers Western Railway. Pradeep Mor (12th min), Ajitesh Roy (51st min), Felix Baa (55th min) and Sahir (68th min) scored for the Delhi outfit, while Western Railway scored through Sanklap Raghav (29th min) and Darshan Gawkar (62nd min).
On Monday, Western Railway will take on Hockey Bhopal at 4.15 pm.
Results – Group-B: Central Secretariat 4 (Pradeep Mor 12th, Ajitesh Roy 51st, Felix Baa 55th, Sahir 68th) beat Western Railway 2 (Sanklap Raghav 29th, Darshan Gawkar 62nd).
Indian Navy 5 (Jugraj Singh 17th, 26th, 40th, 62nd, Aakib Rahim 64th) beat Hockey Bhopal 2 (Taj Khan 50th, Vikas Choudhry 57th).