Army XI, PSB seal berths in semis

Defending champions Army XI and Punjab & Sind Bank registered fluent wins to seal their berths in the semi-finals, in the 47th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium on Saturday.

2004 winners Punjab & Sind Bank, Jalandhar swamped Indian Navy 5-1 in Group C, while Army XI overcame South Central Railway 5-2 in Group A, in their concluding league ties.

While PSB took time to settle down, Navy stunned the favourites soon after the first quarter with an 18th minute strike through Surender Kumar to hold on to a surprise 1-0 first half lead.

Navy managed to keep the bankmen in check until the 41st minute when Navpreet Singh fired in the equaliser and in the process initiated a goal glut.

The equaliser signalled the end of Navy’s challenge as PSB came up with a twin double-strike.

Mandeep Singh and Parminder Singh swelled the tally to 3-1 in the 44th and 45th minutes, while Kulwinder Singh and Navpreet completed the rout in the 56th and 57th minutes.

Army XI lived up to their reputation and dominated the tie against South Central Railway as they surged to a 2-0 lead at half-time.

South Central Railway strived hard to get back into the match and were rewarded for their efforts when Gursev Singh reduced the margin to 1-3 off a penalty corner after the break.

But Army XI had the match well in control and offered their opponents little room to manoeuvre. They swelled the tally to five as Sunil Ekka and Eliazer Lakra fired home before Gursev, whose earlier push struck the post, scored his second goal off a last minute penalty corner.

In the semi-finals, Army XI will take on either Indian Oil or Border Security Force, while PSB will face either Air India or Karnataka XI.

Results: Group A: Army XI 5 (Arumugam, Mansid Bhengra, D. Mahadik, Sunil Ekka, Eliazer Lakra) bt South Central Rly 2 (Gursev Singh 2).

Group C: Punjab & Sind Bank 5 (Navpreet Singh 2, Mandeep Singh, Parminder Singh, Kulwinder Singh) bt Indian Navy 1 (Surender Kumar).

SUNDAY: 2.15 p.m. Air India vs Karnataka XI (Group B); 4.15 p.m. Indian Oil vs Border Security Force (Group C)