Former champs score big wins in Nehru hockey

Spearheaded by Olympians Daljit Dhillon, Jugraj Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh, former champions Punjab Police thrashed Rock Rovers (Chandigarh) 6-0 in a Super League match of the 39th Senior Nehru hockey tournament in Delhi, on Wednesday.

Earlier, former title holders Punjab and Sind Bank and Bharat Petroleum posted easy victories over their opponents to garner full points in the Super League.

Punjab and Sind Bank overwhelmed Karnataka XI 5-0 while Bharat Petroleum defeated Sports Authority of India XI 4-2.

In a one-sided encounter, Punjab Police pumped in five goals in the second session, after leading 1-0 at the breather, to rout Rock Rovers.

The Chandigarh club put up a good fight in the first-half but were totally outplayed in the second.

Gagan Ajit Singh gave the Punjab cops the lead in the 25th minute but after that the winners had to wait for another 20 minutes for their next goal, which was scored by Daljit Dhillon (2-0). Five minutes later, Jugraj Singh made it 3-0 for the cops when he converted a penalty-stroke.

Dhillon scored his second and the team's fourth goal in the 52nd minute and then Gabbar Singh increased the tally to 5-0 in the 59th minute. Daljit Dhillon scored off a penalty-corner in the next minute to complete the rout.

This was Rock Rovers' first defeat in two matches, having beaten Railways in the opener on Tuesday.

Punjab and Sind Bank led 2-0 at half-time against Karnataka XI. Had the bankmen not muffed some good chances they could have won by a bigger margin.

Kulwinder Singh (24th minute) and Harpreet Singh (35th) enabled the bankmen go into the breather 2-0 up. After the break, Kulwinder Singh (56th), Jatinderpal Singh (59th) and Baljit Singh Chandi (70th) scored a goal each to make it 5-0.

In the first match of the day, Bharat Petroleum scored twice in each half. Syed Irshad Ali and Ajay Saroha scored off penalty-corners in 10th and 12th minutes respectively to put them ahead 2-0. Former Olympian Ravi Nayakar made it 3-0 in the 42nd minute when he also sent the ball home following a penalty-corner.

SAI came back into the game as they scored two goals in a space of two minutes to reduce the lead to 2-3. B Lakra scored in the 48th minute and the Kalim Khan reduced the lead further when he scored in the 50th minute.

However, international M K Prakash sealed the match in favour of Bharat Petroleum when he converted a stroke in the 64th minute.