PNB, Railways enter Murugappa Gold Cup hockey semis

CHENNAI - Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Indian Railways joined Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in the semifinals of the 86th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here Wednesday.

PNB, thanks to goals by Bruno Logun (12th) and Satpal Singh (33rd), edged past Hockey India Juniors 2-0 for their third win and finished second IOCL with nine points in pool B.

Indian Railways, requiring just a draw to advance to the semis, did just that with a 2-2 verdict against Namdhari XI. The draw placed Railways behind ONGC in second spot in pool A with eight points.

IOCL finished their league engagements with an unbeaten record after outplaying Bharat Petroleum 5-1 for their fourth consecutive victory.

In the semifinals, scheduled for Saturday after a day’s break Friday, ONGC take on PNB while IOCL face Indian Railways.

The Railways had to fight hard for the draw after trailing 1-2 against Namadhari who were sitting pretty following goals by Gurmeet Singh (1st) and Balwinder Singh (33rd).

The early reverse shook up the Railways, but they kept their composure to score through Jayakaran (11th) and then Innocent Kullu knocked in the second equalizer in the 45th minute.

Thereafter, the Railways virtually downed the shutters to ensure a draw to book their berth in the semi-finals.

Later, in an inconsequential game, IOCL left nothing to chance to rout BPCL 5-1. Former India forward Roshan Minz scored twice (30th, 68th) while Hamza Mujtaba (49th), Ramachandra Raghunath (54th) and Deepak Thakur (59th) completed the rout.

BPCL drew some consolation through a goal by Jarnail Singh in the 31st minute, but spent much of the match defending.