Bharat Petroleum beat India Colts in Ranjit Singh hockey

GURGAON: Bharat Petroleum (BP) defeated India Colts in a thrilling sudden-death finish to win the Oriental Bank Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey tourn
ament at the Nehru Stadium on Monday.

The teams were tied 1-1 after the regulation time and the extra time, too, failed to break the deadlock. The one-on-one penalty shoot-out along the lines of Premier Hockey League (PHL) finished at 2-2. Irshad Ali and Jarnail Singh scored for BP while Mandip Antil and Amir Khan struck for India Colts.

In the sudden death, Ravi Pal scored for BP while Antil failed to sound the board.

BP took the lead through its only penalty corner in the 26th minute with Gurpreet Singh slotting home.

Colts captain Diwakar Ram converted his team’s third penalty corner to draw parity in the 34th minute.

The second half saw the Colts team dominating play but were unable to convert the good moves. Antil was impressive as he often pierced open BP defence with his fast solo runs. Antil was sent off briefly for angrily reacting the umpire’s decision to cancel a penalty corner awarded to them following protest from BP players. The Colts attack suddenly looked ordinary in Antil’s absence.

Colts managed two more penalty corners in the second half but failed to score.

BP won a purse of Rs 1.45 lakh while India Colts won Rs 75,000 prize money.