Drag-flicker Gaganpreet Singh showed excellent penalty corner conversion skills and rifled in five goals to power Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB), Delhi to a facile 7-1 win against Hockey Karnataka, Bengaluru in the concluding Pool ‘A’ 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.
An Indian Oil forward Nitin Kumar (left) is blocked by Central Railway defenders during their Pool-D league match of the MHAL organized 51st All India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Friday.
The other two goals for the Punjab bankers came through Karanbir Singh and skipper Sarvanjit Singh. Vinayak Bijwad netted the lone goal for the Bengaluru outfit.
The big margin of victory helped PSB earn a berth in the quarter-final with South Central Railway from this Pool. All the three teams in this pool, South Central, PSB and Hockey Karnataka, ended with three points each. But South Central with a better goal difference of plus 3 (goals scored 5, conceded 2) topped the pool, while PSB with a differential of plus 2 (scored 7, conceded 5) clinched the second spot ahead of Karnataka who finished with a goal-difference of minus 5 (3-8).
Earlier in the day, former champions Indian Oil, Mumbai riding on the brilliance of Olympians Prabhjot Singh who scored 2 goals and Deepak Thakur and Raghnath VR both scoring one each, fought back from a 0-2 deficit to overcome another Mumbai outfit Central Railway 4-2 in a Pool ‘B’ league match. Central Railway made a positive start with their effervescent forward Mohammed Nizamuddin scoring the first goal in the ninth minute and two minutes later Victo Singh added the second.
However, Raghunath, who arrived early this morning from Australia after doing duty for India, converted from a penalty corner in the 16th minute to trigger Indian Oil’s fight back. Later, skipper Thakur scored the equalizer with a deft touch from close in the 50th minute. Prabhjot then slammed in two goals in a span of eight minutes (57th and 65th minutes) to knock the fight out of the railwaymen.
Indian Oil with two wins finished first in the pool ahead of Central and both qualified for the quarter-finals. The oilmen will clash with PSB and Central will meet South Central in the last four matches on Sunday.
In Saturday’s quarter-final, Indian Navy take on CAG and Western Railway meet Punjab National Bank.
Results – Pool B: Indian Oil 4 (Raghunath V.R. 16th, Deepak Thakur 50th, Prabhjot Singh 57th, 68th) beat Central Railway 2 (Mohammed Nizamuddin 9th, Victo Singh 11th).
Pool A: Punjab & Sind Bank 7 (Gaganpreet Singh 7th, 41st, 44th, 53rd, 61st, Karanbir Singh 41st, Sarvanjit Singh 65th) beat Hockey Karnataka 1 (Vinayak Bijwad 47th).
Saturday schedule:
2.30 pm: Indian Navy vs CAG (quarter-finals).
4.30 pm: Punjab National Bank vs Western Railway (quarter-finals).