The Hindu : Inspired play by IOC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 31, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Inspired play by IOC

KOLKATA MARCH 30. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) put up an inspired performance to beat defending champion Punjab Police 1-0 in the concluding quarterfinal group B league encounter and qualify for the semifinals of the 108th Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the Mohun Bagan ground here on Sunday.

The defeat had the defending champion crashing out as the oilmen pipped the former on points to corner the runner-up spot. Army XI beat Bombay XI 2-0 to become the group B topper with seven points from two wins and a draw while IOC took the second spot with six points from two wins. Punjab Police - with four points from a win, a draw and a loss - and Bombay XI - losing all its matches - finished at the bottom of the group.

Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB) topped group A drawing its last league match against Air India 2-2. PSB remained undefeated and netted seven points finishing ahead of Border Security Force (BSF), Jallandhar.

BSF beat Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 2-1 to win its second match of the quarterfinal league and net six points thus becoming the runner-up in the group. CRPF, with three points, and Air India managing just one point exited from the group.

The knock-out semifinals will have PSB taking on IOC while Army XI meets BSF on the same day on Tuesday while the final, which has been brought forward, will be held on Wednesday.

Punjab Police needing just a draw to progress to the last-four stage paid the price for a defensive approach. Indian Oil utilised the advantage to score the all-important goal and turned the tables on the defending champion. International Dipak Thakur netted the goal 12 minutes into the second session. The oilmen then withstood a barrage of attacks from the policemen, who despite earing seven penalty corners failed to score the equaliser.

Army XI scored a goal in each half to easily get past Bombay XI. Harpreet Singh took the armymen ahead in the 13th minute while Avtar Singh scored from a penalty stroke just after the breather.

Last year's runner-up CRPF failed to show the required initiative conceding two goals in the first session against BSF. Sunil Kujur scored in the 11th and 18th minutes to give BSF a precious two-goal lead which the team preserved almost till the end before Rajesh Kindo struck in the 67th minute. BSF persevered the next three minutes preserving the one goal lead.

PSB was given a tough competition by Air India, which led 2-1 till the 56th minute before the bankmen equalised. PSB went ahead in the 10th minute through Sharanjit Singh's penalty corner conversion before Sandeep Michael equalised in the 26th minute for the Air India.

The airmen struck again six minutes later to overtake PSB in the first session as Kishore Kumar scored in the 32nd minute.

Ajitpal Singh struck in the 56th minute to restore parity for PSB before the match ended without any further alteration to the score.

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