International Yuvraj Walmiki and Aafan Yusuf, the spearheads in the of the Central Railway attack, inspired them to a stunning 3-1 victory over fancied Indian Oil in a Poo-B league of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, being organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Saturday evening. Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PCM) Bank is the sponsors of this tournament, which is being organised under the auspices of Hockey India.
International Yuvraj Walmiki (blue) in action
Both Walmiki and Yusuf showed good understanding and combined effectively to open up the rival defence and just before the half-time hooter Walmiki with a cracking essay beat veteran former India goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan to give Central the lead. Immediately after resumption Walmiki once again was on target striking the second goal in the 36th minute. Indian Oil, winners of the MCC Murugappa tournament in Chennai last month, had no answer to Central sustained onslaught and five minutes later, Narad Bahadur successfully converted a penalty corner to widen the lead. Indian Oil after a couple of missed chances finally managed to pull one back through Pradhan Somanna’s field goal in the 54th minute.
This was the first win for Central after their 2-3 loss to Air India in the opening match, while this was the first defeat for Indian Oil who had won one and drawn the other encounter.
Earlier in the afternoon, former champions Air India, Delhi struck good form and soared to a 5-3 victory against Northern Railway, Delhi. This was Air India’s second straight win after they had defeated Mumbai’s Central Railway 3-2 on Thursday.
After Northern, took an early lead through Manpreet Singh in the 23rd minute, Olympian Arjun Halappa scored two goals, one each on either side of the break, to put Air India in the lead. Later former international Shivendra Singh converted a penalty stroke in the 48th minute and three minutes scored from a deflection before Olympian Vikram Pillay netted the fifth goal to seal the win. In between those goals Northern struck two goals through Sukhman Singh (49th minute) and Harsahib Singh (68th minute) to cut the margin of defeat.
ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation), Delhi defeated Union Bank of India, Mumbai 3-2 for their third successive win and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals The experienced Delhi side put up another smooth, pleasing brand of hockey to wrest the initiative. After making some incisive moves into the rival territory ONGC finally hit the target through Pramod Kumar in the 19th minute. But the younger Union Bank outfit made a strong reply and restored parity through Kiran Thokcham’s field goal in the 25th minutes and the teams went into the break level at 1-all.
After changing ends, ONGC regained the lead when former international and short corner specialist Diwakar Ram scored from a penalty corner in the 44th minute before another former India player Gurvinder Singh Chandi increased the lead from a field effort in the 57th minute. Union Bank continued to fight gamely and reduced the deficit when Irshad Mirza found the net in the 68th minute.
Results – Pool-A: ONGC 3 (Pramod Kumar 19th , Diwakar Ram 44th-pc, Gurvinder Singh Chandi 57th) beat Union Bank of India 2 (Kiran Thokcham 25th, Irshad Mirza 67th).
Air India (Arjun Halappa 24th, 46th, Shivendra Singh 48th-ps, 51st, Vikram Pillay 58th) beat Northern Railway 2 (Manpreet Singh 13th, Sukhman Singh 49th–pc, Harsahib Singh 68th).
Pool-B: Central Railway 3 (Yuvraj Walmiki 33rd, 36th, Narad Bahadur 41st) beat Indian Oil 1 (Pradhan Somanna 57th).
Sunday fixtures
1.00 pm: Air India vs South Central Railway (Pool-B).
3.00 pm: BPCL vs ONGC (Pool-A).
5.00 pm: Army XI vs Western Railway (Pool-A).