Mumbai, Nov 15:
Defending champions Indian Oil and 2007 champions Bharat Petroleum entered the finals of the 49th All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament here today.
Indian Oil subdued a fighting Indian Navy 5-2 in the first semi final which was all-Mumbai affair, in which the services outfit fought tooth and nail and were in the picture till the last seven minutes when they conceded two goals.
However, the second semi final was one-sided as the faster and fitter BPCL totally dominated last year’s runners-up Air India, packed with ageing former internationals, to come out convincing 3-1 winners.
BPCL, winners of the title in 2007 after finishing second-best the previous year, will take on Indian Oil in the final tomorrow.
In the first semi final, Indian Oil – even without some key current India players like V Raghunath, who have departed to join the India camp at Delhi – looked the better side though they had to quell a fighting Navy.
Two field goals in the first 15 minutes of play, both good field efforts from Inderjeet Singh and Dharamveer Singh, gave the oilmen the upper hand early in the match.
But Navy fought back to reduce the margin off an angular shot from the right by Amit Goswami and then drew level when Surender Kumar scored off the first of two penalty corners.
But once ex-India star Deepak Thakur deflected in a centre from the left in the 45th minute to put Indian Oil ahead once again, the match became theirs to win.
Then two more goals in the space of four minutes from Prabjot Singh and Roshan Minz, both ex-internationals, sealed Navy’s fate.
In the second match, BPCL rode rough shod over AI spearheaded by India frontliner S V Sunil. Varun Sharma put them ahead in the 2nd minute off a penalty corner and then Amir Khan, showing good speed, scored twice in the 33rd and 48th minutes to give the Petroleum outfit a handy 3-0 lead.
AI, who have made the final thrice in the last four editions, made some inroads but had to wait till their sixth penalty corner – in the 6th minute – to score via Gaganpreet Singh. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel