Jalandhar, October 24, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
The teams of Bharat Petroleum Mumbai, Punjab and Sind Bank Delhi and Indian Railways reached the semi-finals of the 41st Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament. In the first league match, former winners Punjab and Sind Bank Delhi defeated Army XI by 3-1 while in the last league match, the teams of Indian Railways Delhi and CAG Delhi drew 2-2.
The Indian Railway team entered the semi-finals on the basis of better goal average. In the first semi-final, Bharat Petroleum will take on Indian Railways Delhi and in the second semi-final, Indian Oil Mumbai will take on Punjab & Sind Bank Delhi on October 25. The last two matches of the league round were played in this ongoing tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium.
Pool B of the tournament was the most exciting. Two quarters of a match between Punjab Police Jalandhar and Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala were played in this pool on 20 October, the match could not be completed after half time due to a technical fault in the floodlights. At the time the match was stopped, Rail Coach Factory was leading 1-0.
In the remaining two quarters played today, the match between the two teams was very competitive. In the 49th minute of the game, Olympian Rupinderpal Singh from Punjab Police equalized by converting the penalty corner into a goal. As the match was tied, both the teams got one point each.
The three teams included in this pool, Punjab Police, Bharat Petroleum, Rail Coach Factory had two points after two league matches. The goal average of Bharat Petroleum and Rail Coach Factory was equal due to which the two teams had to decide through a shoot out. The Bharat Petroleum team reached the semi-finals by winning the match 3-0 in shoot out.
A league match was played between Army XI and Punjab and Sindh Bank in Pool D. In the 25th minute of the game, Harmanjit Singh and Jaskaran Singh in the 35th minute of the game scored 2-0 through the penalty corner.
In the 39th minute of the game, Army’s Budhu Tutti scored a field goal to make the score 1-2. Bank’s Gurpreet Singh converted a penalty corner in the 55th minute of the game to make the score 3-1 and win the match to add four points to his account in the league round and enter the semi-finals. Before this, Bank’s match with Indian Navy was tied 1-1.
The last league match was played in Pool C between Indian Railways Delhi and CAG Delhi. Simranjot Singh of Indian Railway scored a penalty corner to make the score 1-0. In the 38th minute of the game, the international player of Indian Railway Jasjit Kular converted the penalty stroke into a goal and made the score 2-0.
Manish Yadav in the 43rd minute of the game and Pramod in the 45th minute made the score 2-2 for CAG Delhi. As the match was tied, both the teams got 1-1 points. Indian Railways and CAG Delhi defeated CRPF but Indian Railways reached the semi-finals on the basis of better goal average.
Chief guest of today’s matches Amolak Singh Gakhal (USA) who gives cash prize of Rs 5-50 lakh to the winning team every year, Raman Arora MLA Jalandhar Central, Hockey Punjab President Nitin Kohli, Charanjit Singh Channi (CT Group) , Daljit Singh IRS introduced the teams.
On this occasion, Olympian Navjot Kaur, Bhupinder Kaur, Olympian Colonel Balbir Singh, Olympian Ignace Tirki, Lakhwinder Pal Singh Khaira, Parveen Gupta, Baljit Singh Chandi, Narinderpal Singh Judge, Ram Pratap, Ranbir Singh Rana Toot, LR Nair, Teja Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Tarlok Singh Bhullar, Ram Sharan, Iqbal Singh Sandhu, Surinder Singh Bhapa Jhilman Singh Mann, Gurinder Sangha, Harinder Sangha, Sukhwinder Lali were specially present.
