ONGC thrash RCF Kapurthala

At the end of 40 minutes, the score-board revealed the fate of Rail Coach Factory of Kapurthala. Down by 0-4, the first-half was nothing short of a shock for the spectators who had witnessed some impressive wins by the Kapurthala outfit. On the other hand, ONGC showed why they were one of the favourites to win the tournament with a a classy display during the 5-2 thrashing of RCF in the 40th S N Vohra’s All-India Gurmit Hockey Tournament played at the Sector 42 Hockey stadium on Monday.

ONGC did not face any problem against RCF and dominated the proceedings right from the beginning. Jagwant opened the account for ONGC when he scored in the 18th minute of the match. Gurwinder Singh then doubled the lead with a superbly taken strike in he 20th minute. A minute later, Vivek Gupta scored his first goal of the match to make the score 3-0 in ONGC’s favour. A 40th minute goal by Parmod put ONGC in an unassailable position with a 4-0 lead.

RCF reorganized their game and were able to score their first goal in the 59th minute through Simran. Vivek also scored in the 59th minute to increase the lead.Yoga Singh further reduced the margin by scoring at the fag end of the game.

Meanwhile, in another fixture, Army XI prevailed over plucky Punjab and National Bank with an aggregate 7-5 margin after playing a three-all draw in the regulation 70-minute session.

Army XI made a perfect start as Rajesh successfully converted a penalty to open the account in the 7th minute. Poonappa converted a penalty corner in the 25th minute as Army went two up. Punjab National Bank, who were trailing by two goals, fought well and neutralised the lead in the 50th minute and again restored parity before the hooter. On crossing over, the action became more intense with PNB scoring two goals to make it 2-2. First Navdeep found the target with a field goal in the 40th minute and Lakhwinder converted a penalty corner in the 50th minute.After the midfield exchanges, Army again shot into the lead in the 65th minute through Rajesh. In a counter attack in the last minute of the game, PNB got their third goal through Damandeep to share the honours (3-3) in the regulation period. The deadlock was resolved in the tie-breaker as Army XI converted four out of five penalties, while PNB could convert only two.