Indian Oil to meet Namdhari XI in Nehru hockey final

New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) Indian Oil and Namdhari XI survived neck-and-neck battles before taming Bharat Petroleum and Punjab Police respectively via golden goal to move to the final of the 43rd Nehru Hockey Tournament here today.

The first semifinal of the day saw Namdhari and Bharat Petroleum finish the regulation time at 3-3, before Jatinderpal Singh came up with the golden goal in the 82nd minute.

On the other hand, Indian Oil and Punjab Police were levelled at 2-2 atfer regulation time in the second semifinal and then Bharat Chikara scored the golden goal to book a final berth for the Oilmen.

Namdhari and Bharat Petroleum played out an intense match today.

First Sher Singh earned the lead for Namdhari in the fifth minute and then Jatinderpal Singh in the 29th but on both occasions, Bharat Petroleum equalised through Pundalik Bellary (14th minute) and Ravi Pal (33rd) to go into the breather with honours even.

After play resumed, the Oilmen, for the first time, snatched lead in the 48th minute when Jarnail sounded the board but Gurpreet Singh (70th) came up with a last gasp equaliser to keep Namdhari in the game.

Even the first half of seven-and-half minutes could not break the deadlock but in the 82nd minute, Jatinderpal guided home Gurpreet's free-hit to seal the matter.

The second semifinal went along the same line. Indian Oil, captained by Deepak Thakur, looked the better side in this half and the Deepak-Prabhjot Singh-Deedar Singh trio kept the Punjab Police defence, manned by Jugraj Singh, at their toes.

It was, however, Nitin Kumar's inch-perfect pass which found Bharat Chikara on the right and the diminutive player relayed it to an advancing Prabhjot and the latter was bang on target with his neat push.

Punjab Police hit back as soon as game resumed and a two-goal blitz saw them snatching the lead.

Five minutes into the second session, Gagandeep Singh gleefully tapped an Avtar Singh pass into the cage and in the next minute, Jugraj Singh showed his class by converting the first penalty corner his side received to make it 2-1 in Punjab Police's favour.

Sensing danger, IOC beefed up attack and was rewarded in the 52nd minute. Punjab Police goalkeeper Sunny Samuel could only partially clear Deedar's drag-flick which ricocheted off a defender's stick before rolling into the cage and the scoreline read 2-2 at the end of regulation time.

IOC owes its golden goal to international Prabhjot Singh, who intercepted a rival attack, dodged past a couple of defenders before having a go at the goal. Sunny Samuel managed to thwart the ball but the rebound went to Bharat Chikara and the latter fumbled a bit before slamming it home to seal the match.

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