Defending champions South Central Railway (SCR), Secundrabad and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Bengaluru in contrasting fashion won their respective quarter-final matches of the Union Bank of India-52nd Bombay Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, played at the MHAL-Mahndra Stadium, Churchgate on Saturday.
A BPCL defender (left) attempts to clear as a ONGC attackers looks set to challenge during their quarter-final match of the Union Bank of India-52nd Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament.
SCR moved a step closer towards the defence of their title with a har-fought 2-0 win against Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India, Delhi, while former champions BPCL rode to an authoritative 5-2 win against ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation), Delhi.
The Secundrabad outfit produced a steady performance and cashed in on the chances that came their way to secure the win. SCR took the lead from a snap goal scored by Lovepreet Singh in the ninth minute and then Ponnacha M.G. tapped home the rebound after Ganadeep Singh’s drag flick from a penalty corner came back off the goalkeeper Mrinal Choubey’s pads in the 59th minute.
The BPCL side boasting of a number of Olympians, current and former Indian stars and a couple of upcoming junior India players showed good understanding and functioned well as a team. They made some incisive runs towards the rival goal and scored two quick goals inside the opening 10 minutes. In the eighth minute S.V. Sunil opened the scoring and in the next minute Md. Amir Khan sounded the boards to double BPCL’s lead.
Having gained total ascendancy, BPCL continued to push forward and struck the third when Lalit Upadhyay cracked home after receiving a pass from the left in the 24th minute.
ONGC despite being under pressure managed to put up a good fight and created some chances but they were unable break down the BPCL defence, which was solid and compact, especially in the first session. However, in the second period, ONGC managed to get on the scoreboard with two quick goals to reduce the deficit and threatened to fight back. In the 42nd minute international Gurjant Singh trapped a rebound from the post and sent the ball crashing to the net and in the 55th minute another Indian star Mandeep Singh deftly deflected home a long hit from the right.
But, BPCL quashed whatever hopes ONGC had of fighting back. In the very next minute Jarnail Singh with a firm reverse hit scored BPCL’s fourth goal before Amir Khan once again found the target for the team’s fifth goal, which killed the contest.
In the semi-finals on Tuesday, BPCL will take on the winner of the fourth quarter-final match between Punjab National Bank, Delhi and Western Railway, Mumbai. SCR await the winner of the quarter-final to be played between Indian Oil and Union Bank of India.
Results – Quarter-finals: BPCL 5 (S.V. Sunil 8th, Md. Amir Khan 9th, & 61st, Lalit Upadhyay 24th, Jarnail Singh 56th) beat ONGC 2 (Gurjant Singh 42nd-PC, Mandeep Singh 55th).
South Central Railway (Lovepreet Singh 9th, Ponnacha M.G. 59th) beat CAG 0.
Sunday’s quarter-final matches:
2.00 pm: Indian Oil vs Union Bank of India.
4.00 pm: Punjab National Bank vs Western Railway.