Defending champions BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited), Bengaluru came up with a disciplined performance to register an authoritative 4-2 win against arch-rivals Indian Oil, also from Bengaluru, in a semi-final match of the Dabang Mumbai – 50th All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament -2015 and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Union Bank of India and Bank of India are the co-sponsors of the tournament.
The star of Bharat Petroleum’s win was drag-flicker Gurpreet Singh who drilled in two first half goals from the two short corners they earned in the entire match. Ravi Pal had struck the opening goal in the 8th minute and Manpreet Singh scored the fourth in the 6th minute of the second half. Indian Oil, who were forced to play second fiddle, scored through skipper Deepak Thakur in the 11th minute and in the final minute of the game.
The Bharat Petroleum players perfectly executed their game plan on the field and with some tight marking at the back they did not allow their opponents to settle down and play their usual flowing game. The BPCL defence marshalled by skipper and international Birendra Lakra and William Xalxo along with Indian star Manpreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh showed fine anticipation and with timely tackles blunted the Indian Oil attack spearheaded by the potent duo of Olympian Deepak Thakur and international Dharamvir Singh. Former Indian players Tushar Khandekar, Ravi Pal and Hari Prasad played good supporting roles to give their team the edge.
International S.V. Sunil, Sommana Pradhan, Ravi Pal and Amir Khan were responsible for BPCL who were dominant from the start. Ravi Pal from a swift move down the left flank and after cutting into the circle flicked the ball which deflected off a defenders stick and past goalkeeper Devesh Chavan for the opening goal in the 8th minute. But their joy was shtort-lived as Thakur scored from a second attempt in the 11th minute.
BPCL continued to trouble the Indian Oil defence and earned a short corner which was successfully converted by Gurpreet whose low push went in off a defenders stick in the 21st minute. Six minutes later Gurpreet once again found success with another low firm push to increase the lead (3-1).
BPCL added the fourth goal when Manpreet beat Indian Oil’s substitute goalkeeper Baljit Singh from a snap effort in the 41st minute. Indian Oil struggling to keep pace managed to reduce the margin of defeat with Thakur scoring in the final minute of the match.
In the second semi-final CAG (Comptroller & Audit Gerneral), Delhi got the better of local outfit Western Railway 6-4 via the tie-breaker after the match finished in a 2-2 draw. CAG did well to recover from a 1-2 deficit by scoring a late equaliser to force the tie-breaker which they managed to win 4-2.
During normal time CAG got their goals through Deepanshu Bhargav in the 21st minute and Darshan D.S. from a penalty corner in the 70th minute. Western Railway scored through Manjinder Singh (28th minute) and Jaykaran (43rd minute).
In the tie-breaker, CAG succeeded in scoring from their first four attempts through Nitin Thimmaiah, Naeemuddin Mohammad, Deepandhu and Sarbjit Singh, while Western could only score through Vinod Kumar and Stanley Minz.
CAG centre forward, international Nitin Thimmaiah scores from their opening attempt in the tie-breaker against Western Railway in a semi-final match
Gurpreet Singh (BPCL) and Darshan (CAG) were adjudged the ‘Man-of-the-match’ in their respective matches and they both received a cash award of Rs 2,000 each.
Results – (semi-finals): BPCL 3 (Ravi Pal 8th, Gurpreet Singh 21st, 27th, Manpreet Singh 41st) beat Indian Oil 2 (Deepak Thakur 11th, 70th). Man-of-the-match: Gurpreet Singh (BPCL).
CAG 6 (Deepanshu Bhargav 21st, Darshan D.S. 70th, and tie-breaker – Nitin Thimmaiah, Naeemuddin Mohammad, Deepandhu, and Sarbjit Singh) beat Western Railway 4 (Manjinder Singh 28th, Jaykaran 43rd and tie-breaker – Vinod Kumar and Stanley Minz). Man-of-the-match: Darshan D.S. (CAG).
Final line-up
BPCL vs Western Railway vs CAG, at 5.00 pm.