Air India enter semi-final in Surjit hockey

Jalandhar, Oct 20 (UNI) Former champions, Air India, Mumbai became the first team to enter the semi finals of the Silver Jubilee Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey tournament today.

In their last Pool-C encounter, Air India picked up a point after being held to a 2-2 draw by South Central Railways, Secundrabad at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here.

The airmen finished the league with four points to top the pool with a win and a draw. The Mumbai team had beaten the fancied local outfit, Punjab Police 3-1 yesterday.

The match was played at a fast pace and Air India took the lead in the 23rd minute of the game when Sumit Singh converted a penalty corner (1-0). After trailing by one goal, in the 33rd minute of the game, the Railwaymen equalised through Amrit Kumar.

After the breather, the Mumbai boys again went into the lead when Joga Singh scored a field goal (2-1). However in the 64th minute of the game, Vipan Thamiah sounded the board to level the score (2-2).

In the second match of the day in pool-'D', defending champions, Indian Oil, Mumbai edged out Namdhari-XI by 2-1.

Vikramjit Singh gave the oilmen the lead by converting the first penalty corner in the 25th minute of the game. At half time the Mumbai team was leading 1-0.

After the lemon break, in the 55th minute of the game Vikram Kant made it 2-0 for the Mumbai boys when he intercepted a ball inside the 25-yard area and after dodging past two defenders, he sounded the board. Two minutes later, Gurmail Singh reduced the margi for Namdhari-XI by scoring a field goal.

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