Bharat Petroleum and IOC enter final

Chandigarh, Oct 1 (UNI) With defending champions Punjab and Sind Bank and runners-up Namdhari XI bowing out, clash for the title in the 13th S N Vohra's All India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament will be between Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited tomorrow at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium here.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited scored one goal in each half to snuff out the challenge of Namdhari XI by 2-0 in the first semi-final played in the evening. Later in the second semi-final played under lights Punjab and Sind Bank, after leading by 1-0 at half time lost to Indian Oil Corporation by aggregate 3-5 margin in the tie-breaker session after the teams were locked one-all in the regulation period.

The second semi-final saw Olympian Deepak Thakur and international Inderjit Singh Chadha, both of IOC, sustaining injuries during the rough play. Deepak's left arm was injured and he played with a bandadged arm. Chadha also took the field after medical attention. He got a cut on the face. For this Narinder Jit Singh was shown yellow card.

The bankmen excelled in patches. In the first minute the IOC goal had a narrow escape with Mandeep Singh giving a pass to Major Singh whose shot just went wide. IOC with Devash Chouhan, Nitin, Inderjit Chadha, Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Thakur and Didar Singh making a powerful line-up had good tries in the 13th, 21st and 27th minutes.

However, PSB goalkeeper Teja Singh gave an outstanding performance.

He thwarted all the three IOC attemps with brilliant anticipation and quick reflexes. In the 13th minute Humza's powerful shot was blocked by Teja Singh. In the 21st minute, fed by Deepak Thakur, Bharat had a mighty crack at the PSB goal which Teja Singh took it on his pad and the ball went out. Six minutes later, Deepak Thakur trapped a forward pass and sent a sizzling shot but alert Teja Singh thawarted the move.

A brawl between PSB Kulwinder Singh and IOC goalkeeper Davesh Chouhan saw the stoppage of play for nearly two minutes. However, the umpires let off the players without any punishment. With Davesh's concentration broken for the moment, PSB shot into the lead one minute before the half time. Rajinder Singh engineered the move and passed the ball to Parminder Singh who made no mistake.

After Bharat Kumar's brilliant solo effort went abortive as his shot went wide from close in the 44th minute, IOC neutralised the lead in the 45th minute. A brilliant combination among Humza, Inderjit Chadha and Deepak Thakur saw the last named scoring in a majestic style.

As there was not further scoring, the tie-breaker rule was applied to break the one-all deadlock. For IOC Bikramjit, Bharat Kumar, Dewakar and Didar Singh converted their strokes. Only M Roshan muffed his stroke. Rajinder Singh and Kuljinder Singh could convert their strokes for PSB. Mandeep and Major Singh were waywad in their strokes. Davesh Chouhan was declared man of the match.

Earlier, runners-up Namdharis failed to impress against BPCL who scored one goal in each half. Irshad Ali gave them the lead by converting a penalty corner in the 30th minute and dashing Ravi Pal, a product of Sansarpur, put the issue beyond doubt by scoring a field goal in the 46th minute after Prabhdeep had given him the pass.

Amar Aiyama was the villain in the BPCL camp. He frittered away at least four golden opportunities to score. He either shot wide or his shots were too weak to beat Namdhari defence. Sabu Varkey was adjudged the man of the match which carries a cash award of Rs 2,000.

The final will be telecast live on Doordarshan and Doordarshan Punjabi channel.

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