29th October 2006: Previous edition finalists Punjab & Sind Bank and Indian Oil
Corporation have made it to the semifinals, while the hosts
Punjab suffered a setback going down to energetic Namdhari. Though all three matches playred were medicore stuff, namdharis victory added much suspense to the in the second day of the Nationals Superleague being held at the Olympian Surjit Singh Memorial State hockey stadium, Jalandhar, Punjab.
IOC’s Deedar Singh posted the team’s only goal in the 12th
minute to garner three points against Indian Railways. However
in the first match of the day, Punjab led by Kanwalpreet Singh
lost to Namdhari where also solitry goal decided the winner.
After Punjab missed many chances, Namdharis availed their 5th
and last penalty corner to snatch an outright victory.
In the third match of the day, defending champions Punjab &
Sind Bank defeated Chandigarh 2-0 in match marred specks of onfield violence, resulting in a flurry
of cards.
Two yellow cards and two red cards were flashed, and
the match was interrupted twice for long spells due to acrmony
between the teams. Quite surprisingly — and against the rules — a
host of organizers too entered the field obviously to pacify
the players, giving an impression as if the officiating umpires are not capable of managing the situation.
National is yet to generate public enthusiasm here, if one goes by the thin crowd on Sunday when even the hosts team played.