Sports Hostel, Western Central Railway win

Tribune News Service

On the second day of the 36th Liberals All-India Liberals Hockey tournament in progress at Punjab Public School Hockey Stadium here, Western Central Railway, Jabalpur, defeated PSEB, Patiala, 2-0, Sports Hostel Lucknow thrashed CISF, Chandigarh 3-0, J&K Police, Jammu subdued Rock Rovers Chandigarh 2-1 while Sangrur XI overwhelmed ITBP Jalandhar 4-2.

PSEB made an early exit going down 2-0 to seasoned Western Central Railways in their opening encounter. Excelling in all departments of the game, the railmen dominated the proceedings and were leading 1 in the 15th minute with centre forward Mehraj-ud-din sounding the board with a powerful hit after receiving the ball from left out Dev Kumar. They earned five short corners while PSEB forced three short corners without any success. Western Central railways made sure of the victory by adding another goal in the 40th minute when speedy inside right Imran Ali pounced on a centre from the left flank and made no mistake with an accurate hit into the left corner of the post.

Experienced CISF failed to match the speed and skill of Sports Hostel, Lucknow and went down fighting 3-0 in an absorbing tussle. Lucknow lads went ahead 1-0 in the 10th minute with a goal from Abhinav Pandey. CISF tried hard for an equalizer but failed to dent the formidable defence of the Sports Hostel. The Lucknow outfit increased their lead to 2-0 when inside left Imran Khan weaved his way into the CISF circle and beat goalkeeper Bhushan Kumar with a clever flick in 25th minute. They earned a penalty stroke in the 52nd minute which was easily converted by Faiz Khan to give the Lucknow team a 3-0 victory.

J&K Police registered their second consecutive win with a 2-1 hard fought victory over Rock Rovers. After a goalless first half Rock Rovers scored in the 38th minute with Kanwaldeep Singh dodging past a couple of defenders to find the board. The policemen initiated a counter attack in the 39th minute and succeeded to equalise from a penalty stroke taken by their captain Gurjeet Singh. The penalty stroke was awarded when defender Jobenjeet Singh stopped the ball with his leg on the goal line. Rock Rovers tried hard but success eluded them and the policemen took full advantage to score an opportunistic goal by Sikandarpal Singh in 62nd minute when he collected a loose ball in front of goal and scored past onrushing goalkeeper Kanwalpreet.

In the last match of the day Sangrur XI upset experienced ITBP Jalandhar 4-2 with inside left Harvinder Singh scoring a brace in the 10th and 50th minute while Jaskaran Singh and Ramandeep scoring in the 23rd and 34th minute. For ITBP jasvinder singh and Suresh Kumar scored to restrict the Sangrur XI lead to 4-2.

Tomorrows fixtures: CRPF N. Delhi vs J&K Police, Jammu 10:00 am; Sikh Regimental Centre, Ramgarh Cantt vs Sports hostel, Lucknow 11:30 am; Corps of Signal, Jalandhar vs Sangrur XI 1:00pm; Hawks Ropar Vs Western Central Railway, Jabalpur 2:30 pm.