Hindustan Times: 114th Aga Khan Cup hockey tournament: Railway Police lay down the law
Railway Police controlled the proceedings for the most part before Aniket found his second goal in the 32nd minute to down Osmanabad 4-0 in the pre-quarterfinal match.
Railway Police rode on to Aniket Sapkal’s brace and blanked Osmanabad 4-0, while a team from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) outsmarted Metro Club 3-2 and stormed into the quarterfinals in the men’s open section in the 114th Aga Khan Cup hockey tournament at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium in Nehrunagar, Pimpri, on Tuesday.
Railway Police opened the scoring through Aniket Sapkal in the 10th minute before Harshwardhan Maske (23’) and Akash Sapkal (27’) found the target to give Railway Police a 3-0 lead. Railway Police controlled the proceedings for the most part before Aniket found his second goal in the 32nd minute to down Osmanabad 4-0 in the pre-quarterfinal match.
The police team now become firm favourites to win the prestigious hockey tournament.
In another last 16 action, the PCMC team defeated Metro Club 3-2 thanks to goals from Abhishek Mane (14’), Ajay Gote (19’) and Nilesh Kamble (31’). Some rearguard action from Metro Club saw them score two goals in a space of three minutes when Zishan Shaikh struck in the 34th and 37th minutes, but Metro ran out of time when looking for an equaliser.
All eyes are on the PCMC team who have defied odds as the underdogs to make it this far. The late afternoon match between Pune City Police and Green Meadows was forced to be stopped due to bad light.
The match will resume on Wednesday and is expected to be a closely fought contest with the city police being favourites.
St Claire’s in girls final
Sucheta Deshmukh and Ayesha Kazi scored a goal each to help St Claire’s High School storm into the final of the inter-school girls’ tournament.
In the first semi-final played on Tuesday, St Claire’s defeated PCMC School 2-0 after Sucheta drew first blood in the second minute of the match. Ayesha then struck home the second goal in the 20th minute to seal the comfortable win.
St Claire’s have been putting on a great display of attacking hockey and are expected to go the distance in the tournament. PCMC School were impressing, but the Claire’s girls proved far superior.
Results
Men: Railway Police 4 (Aniket Sapkal 10’, 32’, Harshwardhan Maske 23’, Akash Sapkal 27’) bt Osmanabad 0; PCMC 3 (Abhishek Mane 14’, Ajay Gote 19’, Nilesh Kamble 31’) bt Metro Club 2 (Zishan Shaikh 34’, 37’).
Inter-school girls: St Claire’s High School 2 (Sucheta Deshmukh 2’, Ayesha Kazi 20’) bt PCMC School .