Air India, ONGC, IOC, BPCL ride into All India Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup: Hockey News
The teams including Air India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) won the quarter-finals and moved into the semi- finals of the All India Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup that took
place at the Aishbagh Hockey Stadium in Bhopal, on May 29.
In the first quarter-final of the tournament, Air India trounced Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy (MPHA) by eight goals, 8-0. In the very early minutes of the match, Air India established their dominance and ruined the defence-line of MPHA.
In the 5th minute of the game, Shivendra Singh marked a goal from the field to put Air India ahead on the score-board. In a matter of five minutes, Sameer Dad doubled the tally and took the game into their favour. The remaining time completely
belonged to Air India, which obtained six more goals while holding opponent score-less. Shivendra Singh chipped in three more goals while his team-mates, Joga Singh, Birendra Lakra and Prabodh Tirkey, accounted for one goal apiece in the commanding victory.
Owing to best performance, Shivendra was honoured as Man of the Match award.
In the second knockout competition, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) took Punjab National Bank (PNB) down by three goals, 4-1 and moved into the semi-finals of the event. After an end-to-end play, the two teams failed to touch the scoring in the opening
half of play.
In the second half, Akashdeep accounted for two goals while his team-mates, Vivek Gupta and Vikas Toppo, scored one goal each in the triumph. From the other side, Yadhuvir Singh notched the solitary goal from PNB in the loss. With a commanding victory, ONGC
sailed into the semi-finals of the tournament.
In the third contest, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) defeated Railways by three goals, 4-1 to capture a berth in the semi-finals of the All India Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup. B R Ravinath, the skipper of the IOC, commenced the game quite maturely and scored two
goals in the very early minutes of the opening half.
In a counter-offence, Thakur added a goal from the field, but it was countered by Mohd Aleem. In the last minutes of the game, Roshan Singh scored a goal and sealed the IOC triumph at 4-1.
In the last quarter-final contest, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) beat Namdhari XI by two goals, 3-1 and rode away into the semi-final round. Gurpreet Singh, Amar Aiyamma and Sher Singh added one goal each in the victory.
From the other side, Harpreet Singh accounted for a solitary goal in the losing effort. With the impressive victory, the BPCL team moved ahead into the semi-final round o the All India Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup.
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