Semifinalists identified

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Indian Oil and Punjab Sports from group ‘A’ and Air India and South Central Railway from group ‘B’ made it to the semifinals of the Coal India 115th Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the SAI, Eastern Centre, here on Sunday.

Defending champion Indian Oil defeated Punjab Sports 6-2 remain undefeated in the quarterfinal league of group ‘A’ and entered the semifinals as the No. 1 side. Punjab Sports finished second with two wins and a loss.

Air India too won its third straight match in group ‘B’ by beating Karnataka XI 4-0 to top the group. South Central Railway downed Western Railway by the odd goal in three to secure the second spot from this group.

In the semifinals on Tuesday, Indian Oil will take on South Central Railway while Air India will clash with Punjab Sports.

Indian Oil dominated Punjab Sports with consummate ease striking five times before Punjab Sports pulled one back in a one-sided game. The two teams then added a goal each for the final tally.

Air India’s thrashing of Karnataka XI was efficient and ruthless.

But the match that was most interesting was South Central’s 3-2 win over Western. This win enabled the Hyderabad-based side to qualify for the last four stage.

The results: Quarterfinal league: Group ‘A’: Indian Oil 6 (V.R. Raghunath 18, 51, 63, Prabhjot Singh 46, 56, Hamza Mujtaba 55) bt Punjab Sports Club 2 (Karamjeet Singh 60, Depanshu Bhargay 67); Mumbai XI 6 (Devinder Valmiki 21, 26, 56, 62, Bhusan Dhere 22, Deepak Lakra 55) bt CESC 4 (Sukhen Saha 8, 13, Sunil Kujur 10, Lalit Baxla 34).

Group ‘B’: Air India 4 (Len Aiyappa 10, V.S. Vinaya 19, Sameer Dad 53, Birender Lakra 59) bt Karnataka XI 0; South Central Railway 3 (B. Horo 48, 59, Innocent Kullu 67) bt Western Railway 2 (Irshad Mirza 21, Vinod Kumar Singh 50) .