Indian Oil in ‘Babu’ Hockey semis

Indian Oli, Mumbai defeated West Central Railway, Jabalpur 3-2 in a thriller to secure a berth for themselves in the semi-finals of the 30th All India KD Singh ‘Babu’ Memorial Invitation Prize Money Men’s Hockey Tournament being organised at Dhyanchand astro-turf stadium, Lucknow. The tournament is being held under the auspices of the sports department (UP).

Punjab and Sindh Bank beat Army XI by 4-2 in another quarter-final match. On behalf of the victors, Vikram Jit Singh (2 goals), Parminder Singh (1 goal) and Daler Singh (1 goal) were the goal-getters while Varun Kumar and Manzid Bhengra found the target on behalf of Army XI.

The match between Indian Oil and WCR Jabalpur was a keenly contested one. WCR player Abhishek made full use of a penalty corner (PC) awarded to his team in the 13th minute to impart a 1-0 lead to his team. Thereafter, despite some good efforts no goals could be score for quite some time.

Dodging defenders Indian Oil player Preetinder Singh succeeded in netting the equaliser in the 45th minute. M Uddin collected a well-timed pass in the 61st minute and diverted the ball into the target to put Railway team into lead. But Indian Oil players Arjun Anjil and Ramandeep Singh scored apiece each in the 67th and 69th minute, respectively, to pave the way for a 3-2 win for their team.

Two pre-quarter-final matches were also played on Sunday. Helped by a goal each by Deepak Singh (23rd minute; through PC), Imran Khan (58th minute; through PC) and Triveni Prasad (68th minute), SAI Lucknow defeated CRPF Delhi by 3-0 while Sports Hostel UP beat NCR Allahabad by 4-1.On behalf of the Hostel team, Shrish Bisen, Chandan Singh, M Faheem and Imran Khan sounded the boards. Badsha Alam scored the consolation goal for NCR.

Monday’s Fixtures (both quarter-finals): SAI Lucknow vs Namdhari XI (at 1.30 pm); PNB Delhi vs Sports Hostel UP (at 3.00 pm).