Mumbai: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) comfortably won their respective quarter-final matches to book place in the semi-finals of the 53rd All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey championship at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Sunday.
Last year’s runners-up Bharat Petroleum played well and stormed to a 6-3 victory against a spirited Uttar Pradesh XI in the fourth last-eight match.
The highlight of BPCL’s win was the double strikes from Md. Amir Khan (3rd & 31st minutes) and Gurpreet Singh (36th & 55th minutes) which put their team firmly in control and secured their big win. Tushar Khandkar (15th minute) and Shakir Hussain (60th minute) scored a goal each to play perfect supporting roles.
Uttar Pradesh struck through a brace from Deepak Yadav (41st & 57th minutes) and Iktidar Ishrat (37th minute). Earlier, Punjab & Sind Bank proved too good for Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) XI and charged to a fluent 5-3 win after leading 5-0 at the end of the first half.
Harmanpreet Singh (4th minute) opened the scoring before Ashish Pal Sharma (9th minute) and Gaganpreet Singh (12th minute) scored two quick goals to increase the lead. Later, Prince S. (22nd minute) and Navdeep Singh (29th minute) fired home the last two goals to seal the win.
PSB took things easy and relaxed the pace in the second session and MHAL managed to scored three goals though a brace from Osaf Ur Rehman (23rd and 55th minutes) and one from Manjinder Singh (56th minute). Monday is a rest day. On Tuesday, Punjab and Sind Bank meet South Central Railway in the first semi-final and Bharat Petroleum meet defending champions Indian Oil in the second semi-final, which will be a repeat of last year’s final.
Results — QFs: Punjab & Sind Bank 5 (H Singh 4th, AP Sharma 9th, G Singh 12th, S Prince 22nd, N Singh 29th) bt MHAL XI 3 (O Rehman 23rd, 55th, M Singh 56th). Bharat Petroleum 6 (MA Khan 3rd, 31st, T Khandkar 15, G Singh 36th, 55th, S Hussain 60th) bt Uttar Pradesh XI 3 (I Ishrat 35th, D Yadav 41st, 57th).a
