Oilmen set up Ranjit Singh hockey title clash

The two leading oil companies of country Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil accounted divergent semi-final victories over their respective opponents Army XI and Air India to set up title-clash, to be played on Wednesday, in the fourth oriental Bank Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey tournament played at the Shivaji Stadium here on Tuesday.

In the first semi-final, Bharat Petroleum outclassed their rivals Army XI 4-0 while Indian Oil earned a hard fought victory over their opponents as they rallied twice to ground Air India 4-2 in the other semi-final.

Bharat Petroleum team dished out an attacking brand of hockey right from the start as they reaped benefit on their first orchestrated shy in the rival citadel. International Hari Prasad took his team ahead (1-0) finding the net through a brilliant field goal in the 16th minute.

Army XI, who had a good run in the tournament thus far meekly surrendered against their opponents as they were never a threat to their rivals in the entire match and moreover were also not looking in their element. Bharat Petroleum went in to the breather with a one-goal lead.

On changing the ends, Petroleum team continued their dominance in the field as they had more ball possession. Bharat Petroleum doubled the lead ten minutes into the second half (2-0) through Ravi Pal Singh. Gurpreet Singh made it further worse for the Army team by accounting the team’s third goal through a penalty corner conversion in the 63rd minute.

Amar Aiyamma rounded off the tally (4-0) five minutes before the final hooter to seal the fate of the opponents.

In the day’s second semi-final, Indian Oil twice came from behind to beat Air India (North) 4-2. Indian Oil's proved their superiority in the end despite having tough time during the match.

Air India took the first flight as they went ahead as early in the sixth minute through Sandeep Michael. Tyron Pereira levelled the terms for Indian Oil in the 17th minute.

Air India again got into lead (2-1) in the 48th minute through Arjun Halappa. But much to Air India’s disappointment they couldn’t be able to hold on their lead despite leading twice as the eventual winners slotted three more rapid goals that grounded Air India.

Hamza Mujtaba scored a fine brace as first he restored parity and then led his team (3-2) by scoring in the 56th and 65th minute respectively. Deedar Singh belted the final nail in rival’s coffin in the 62nd minute to seal the issue in Indian oil’s favour. The final will be played later in the day at 3 pm.