Central Railway bounced back to winning form by registering a thumping 9-2 victory against a lethargic Mumbai Customs in Pool ‘A’ league match of the 12th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur All India Gold Cup Hockey Championship, organized by MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited) and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, on Saturday. The victors enjoyed a healthy 6-2 half-time lead.
Mumbai Customs midfielder Vikas Pillay (centre) tries to dribble past Central Railway players Affan Yusuf (right) and Basavraj B. during their Pool-A league match
The railwaymen who went down fighting 2-3 to Air India in the last match, produced a slick disciplined performance. They showed good understanding and worked in unison to unsettle the rival defence and hit the target at regular intervals to run away with the match.
International Yuvraj Walmiki scored three goals (15th, 23rd, 40th), two each by Anup Walmiki (10th, 62nd) and Affan Yusuf (32nd, 49th) and one each from Nizam M. (4th) and Deepak Lakra (26th) to complete the scoring tally. Mumbai Customs managed to reduce the margin of defeat with goals from Joshua Vessaokar (6th) and Jayesh Jadhav (34th).
Having played three games, Central now has six points the same as Air India and RCF, Kapurthala, but both having played a game less. Central take on RCF in their final pool game on Sunday and they require a win at all cost to stay in contention of qualifying for the semi-finals. Air India have two games remaining against FCI (Sunday) and RCF (Tuesday).
Earlier in the morning, Punjab National Bank, Delhi defeated Hockey Bhopal 5-3 for their first win in Pool-B. The bankers had suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Western Railway in the previous game. This was the second straight defeat for the Bhopal outfit who had lost 0-4 to CAG earlier and they have a solitary point from the 2-2 draw with Union Bank of India in the first match. Gagandeep Singh scored a brace of goals (5th and 53rd) while Ranjit Singh (15th), Arjun Antil (56th) and Sanjay (70th) added one each for the winners. Hockey Bhopal got their goals through Mehrajuddin scored twice (57th and 62nd) and one through Nadeem Baig (35th).
Meanwhile in another Pool-B match, Western Railway dropped two valuable points as they were forced to share honours with Union Bank in a 1-1 draw. The bankmen took the lead through Harjeet Singh who scored from a penalty corner in the 30th minute before Western managed to find equalizer when Rajan Kadulina from a reverse hit sounded the boards in the 42nd minute. Western now has 4 points from two games while Union Bank have 2 points from as many games.
Anup Walmiki (Central Railway), Gagadeep Singh (P.N. Bank) and Sudhir Dixit (Union Bank) were declared ‘Man of the match’ in their respective matches and were all presented with a cash prize of Rs 1,000 each.
Results –Pool A: Central Railway 9 (Nizam M. 4th, Anup Walmiki 10th, 62nd, Yuvraj Walmiki 15th, 23rd, 40th, Deepak Lakra 26th, Affan Yusuf 32nd, 49th) beat Mumbai Customs 2 (Joshua Vessaokar 6th, Jayesh Jadhav 34th). Man of the match: Anup Walmiki (Central Railway).
Pool B: Western Railway 1 (Rajan Kandulina 42nd) drew with Union Bank of India (Harjeet Singh 30th). Man of the match: Sudhir Dixit (Union Bank).
Pool B: Punjab National Bank 5 (Gagandeep Singh 5th, 53rd, Ranjit Singh 15th, Arjun Antil 56th, Sanjay 70th) beat beat Hockey Bhopal 3 (Nadeem Baig 35th, Mehrajuddin 57th, 62nd). Man of the match: Gagandeep Singh (P.N. Bank).