Indian Navy edges EME; Combined SAI down ONGC in thriller

Mumbai, Apr 17 (UNI) Indian Navy today edged past EME Jalandhar by the odd goal in three to enter the third round of the 44th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament being played at the Mahindra stadium here.

In the other matches Combined SAI XI clinched a thriller as they overcame ONGC (Delhi) by a 5-3 margin after being 1-2 down at half time, while Central Railway thrashed Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy Amritsar 8-0 and Northern Railway outplayed Tata S.C. 4-1 to move into the next round. In the final match of the day PSEB (Patiala) edged out RCF Mumbai 5-4 to advance.

In the Indian Navy vs EME Jalandhar match, Navy struck first going into the lead in the 17th minute. Skipper R Lakra gave a superb ball into the D for Ajay Kumar to get a deflection into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

However, their lead was shortlived as in the 30th minute Avtar Singh Jr. responded to a well measured pass on the top of the circle to make it 1-1.

Indian Navy looked the better side in the second half and dominated the proceedings with junior international defender Amrit Kiro converting a direct penalty corner in the 44th minute to give them the winning goal and a place in the third round.

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