IO, AI (North) strike victories in Ranjit Singh hockey tourney

New Delhi, Feb 24 (UNI) Riding on a superb hat-trick by Hamza Mujtaba, Indian Oil trounced Air India (Mumbai) 4-2 whereas Air India (North) stroked out Namdhari XI 5-3 in the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey tournament here today.

In a Group I encounter, Mujtaba scored in the ninth minute to put Indian Oil in lead and followed it with another goal in the the 30th minute to make 2-0 in the first half.

He continued his good form in the second half to make it 3-0 in the 43rd minute. A minute later, Oilmen extended their lead through Inderjit Singh Chadda.

Air India (Mumbai) did try to come back in the match through a penalty corner by Len Aiyappa in the 47th minute and another goal by Girish Pimpale in the 57th minute.

Oilmen, however, did not allow Air India (Mumbai) to go beyond that and finished the match 4-2.

In another match, Sandeep Singh converted four penalty corners to lead Air India (North) to a 5-3 win over Namdhari XI.

The airmen grabbed the lead in the ninth minute, but Sumeet Singh scored two goals in the 17th and 22nd minutes as Namdhari XI bounced back in the match.

Namdharis drew parity in the 45th minute through Sher Singh to make it 3-3, but a goal each by Sandeep Singh and Dhanraj Pillay in the 51st and 69th minutes respectively, ended the game in Air India's (North) favour.

Bharat Petroleum will face Punjab National Bank while Punjab Sind Bank will take on Army XI tomorrow.

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