ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation), Delhi riding on the brilliance of former international Gurvinder Singh Chandi who notched up a fine hat-trick outplayed defending champions Army XI, Delhi by a convincing 6-2 margin in a Pool-A round-robin league match 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 Thursday. Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PCM) Bank are the sponsors of this tournament, which is being organised under the auspices of Hockey India.
An Air India attacker Birendra Lakra (white) is chased by Central Railway defender Vishal Pillay during their Poo-B match of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament.
The Army side showed promise at the start and took an early lead when Robin H.M. flicked home the opening goal in the 14th minute.
Stung by that reverse, ONGC regrouped, got their act together and went on an all-out attack. It did not take them too long to restore parity as in the 16th minute Chandi scored from close. He then added two more goals in the 29th and 38th minutes to complete his hat-trick and give ONGC a 3-1 cushion.
The Army side managed to close the gap when Bhushan Kujur scored a field goal in the 41st minute.
But ONGC were not prepared to allow the armymen make a fight back as they struck three goals in the remaining period to widen the lead and close out the match. Diwakar Ram (42nd) and Preetinder Singh (49th) both converted penalty corners before Pramod Kumar hammered in the final goal of the match in the 68th minute.
Earlier former champions, Air India, Delhi pulled off a narrow 3-2 win against Central Railway, Mumbai in a Pool-B contest. Sumit Topo scored the first and third goals for Air India in the 25th and 59th minutes. In between those two strikes former international Shivendra Singh scored the second for Air India in the 33rd minute. For Central Railway both the goals came through full back Narad Bahadur who converted the first penalty corner in the 34th minute and the sixth in the 54th minute.
In the second match of the day, last year’s runners-up South Central Railway, Secunderabad shared the spoils with former champions Indian Oil, Mumbai 4-all in an eight goals thriller. In a match of fluctuating fortunes, the Secunderabad outfit who trailed 2-4 with 10 minutes remaining put up a determined fight and managed to produce two late strikes to force a draw and a division of two points.
Sunil Yadav (6th), Hamza Mujtaba (33rd) Roshan Minz (53rd) and Deepak Thakur (60th) were on target with a goal each for reigning Mumbai Super League champions Indian Oil. For South Central Railway the goals came through a brace from Poonacha M.G. (9th and 14th), Sandeep Singh (63rd) and Mayank James (65th).
Results –
Pool-A: ONGC 6 (Gurvinder Singh Chandi 16th, 29th, 38th, Diwakar Ram 42nd, Preetinder Singh 49th, Pramod Kumar 68th) beat Army XI 2 (Robin H.M. 14th, Bhushan Kujur 41st).
Pool-B: Air India 3 (Sumit Topo 25th, 59th, Shivendra Singh 33rd) beat Central Railway 1 (Narad Bahadur 34th, 55th).
Indian Oil 4 (Sunil Yadav 6th, Hamza Mujtaba 33rd Roshan Minz 53rd, Deepak Thakur 60th) drew with South Central Railway 4 (Poonacha M.G. 9th, 14th, Sandeep Singh 63rd, Mayank James 65th).