Chandigarh: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) reached the quarterfinals of the 38th SN Vohra’s All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament, being organised by Rock Rovers at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, when they outplayed Chandigarh XI 6-1 on Thursday.
Seeded straight into the pre-quarterfinals, star-studded ONGC led 3-0 at half time. The highlight of the match was sterling performance by India international Diwakar Ram who scored three goals. Amarjeet, Sandeep Antil and Amit contributed one goal each.
Out of the five penalty corners awarded to them, ONGC converted two. They were also awarded a penalty stroke, which was also converted.
The only goal Chandigarh XI scored was a penalty stroke conversion by Rupinder Pal. ONGC earned their first short corner in the 17th minute and penalty corner specialist Diwakar Ram was on target with a well-directed shot. To compound the home team’s problems, Amarjeet and Sandip Antil scored field goals in the23rd and 29th minutes, respectively, to make it 3-0.
Chandigarh XI were awarded a penalty stroke in the 44th minute, which Rupinder Pal converted. ONGC immediately launched a counter attack and earned a penalty corner, which was converted by Diwakar in the 45th minute. Two minutes later, Diwakar was again in action as he converted a penalty stroke. Amit scored a field goal in the 64th minute to round off a miserable outing for Chandigarh XI.
Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) scripted a narrow 1-0 verdict over Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the second round match. Akash, who converted a penalty stroke in the 37th minute, scored the all-important goal. Earlier, Indian Air Force (IAF) advanced to the next round by ousting Signals 3-1. The airmen scored through Sanjay Yadav (8th, 12th) and Prabhakar (66th).