IOC beat RCF, enters Surjit semifinal

Jalandhar, Nov 10 (UNI) Defending champions Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Delhi breezed into the semifinals of the 23rd Indian Oil Surjit Hockey Tournament defeating Railway Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala by 4-1 in their last Super League round match here today.

The match between the star-studded IOC and RCF was more or less a one-sided affair in which the Oilmen wasted no time and tightened the grip in the opening phase of the match itself.

Soon after the start, the Oilmen, led by Olympian Deepak Thakur, made a well calculated move in the rival striking zone defeating RCF defenders in the seventh minute of the match. Thakur made no mistake in culminating the move into a fine field goal(1-0).

Three minutes later another assault made by Oilmen culminated into a penalty corner, the first of the match, and Inderjit Chaddha made no mistake in consolidating the lead(2-0) with his flawless shot.

Soon in the 13th minute, IOC forward Roshan Minz stormed into the rival D with ball and posted third goal for the winning team.

The first 15 minutes of the match was fully under the grip of the defending champions and in the rest course of the match the RCF players tried to stage a comeback but could not penetrate the rivals' defence.

Only during dying moments RCF's Roop Singh could break the Oilmen's defence in 60th minute to sound the board from a close range shot. Two minutes later IOC also struck with Deedar Singh posting a flashing field goal(4-1). In the last minute RCF earned a corner but this could not be taken in the want of time.

Barring one instance in 48th minute, when IOC's Bikramjit Singh was warned for rough game, both teams played fair game.

In the Women's section Central Railway Mumbai won comfortably by 1-0 against Pepsu XI. Pepsu girls did their best to keep stronger rival occupied by their repeated attacks but the moves lacked accuracy and kill.

They got eight penalty corners during the course of the match but none could be converted into goal. In contrast, experienced Railway eves played defensive in planned way. Both teams were playing goalless till the half time. The lone goal in the match came in 49 minutes through penalty corner hit by Reena Kanti. In the meantime the winning team also wasted two penalty corners in the match.

UNI SS DP AY RK1740