Air India, South Central Railway in Beighton Cup semis

KOLKATA: Air India and last year’s runners-up South Central Railway registered contrasting wins over their respective opponents to make the semifinals of the Coal India 115th Beighton Cup hockey tournament at SAI artificial turf on Sunday.

Coached by former captain Dhanraj Pillay, Air India struck through Len Aiyappa (10th), V S Vinaya (19th), Sameer Dad (53rd) and Birender Lakra to blank Karnataka XI 4-0 in their quarterfinal league match to finish on top of group B and set up a last-four battle with Punjab Sports.

South Central Railway set up a tough semifinal clash with defending champions Indian Oil after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Western Railway.

Both Air India and South Central Railway finished with seven points, but the former topped group B on goal difference. Karnataka XI (3) finshed third, ahead of winless Western Railway.

Down 0-1, South Central Railway bounced back through a double by B Horo (48th and 59th) and a penalty conversion by Innocent Kullu in the 67th minute in a thrilling match.

Western Railway took the lead via Irshad Mirza (21st) before South Central Railway equalised 1-1.

But Western Railway snatched the lead through Vinod Kumar Singh (50th) before Horo and Kullu turned the table for South Central Railway.

Continuing with their winning spree, star-studded Indian Oil rode on a hat-trick by V R Raghunath (18th, 51st, 63rd) while Prabhjot Singh struck twice (46th, 56th) and Hamza Mujtaba sounded the board in the 55th to thrash Punjab Sports Club 6-2 in a group A league match.

The Punjab outfit scored through Karamjeet Singh (60th) and Deepanshu Bharghav (67th) as they finished second, behind Indian Oil (9 points), with six points.

Devinder Valmiki struck four times (21st, 26th, 56th and 62nd) to help Mumbai XI boune back from a three-goal deficit to beat CESC 6-4 in another match.

Bhusan Dhere (22nd) and Deepak Lakra (55th) were the other two scorers in the high-scoring match.

CESC took a 3-0 lead with goals from Sukhen Saha (8th, 13th) and Sunil Kujur (10th) while Lalit Baxla (34th) struck the third.

Mumbai XI (3) finished third in group A with the solitary win.

Both the semifinals will be held on Tuesday, beginning with Indian Oil vs South Central Railway.