Indian Oil too good for Bhopal XI

Three goals by India forward Prabhjot Singh was the feature of Indian Oil's 5-1 victory over Bhopal XI in the 41st Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament, at the Mahindra stadium, in Mumbai, on Monday.

In another quarter-final league match, Karnataka XI pipped Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Chandigarh, 3-2 after leading by a solitary goal at half-time.

One of the dark horses in the tournament along with Bhopal XI, the Karnataka side opened their account in the 17th minute when their forward John Verghese scored off a Laxman Rao cross.

CISF equalised three minutes from the break when their skipper G V Xaxa flicked home a Cyril Ekka pass.

Karnataka XI took the lead again in the 53rd minute, when their defender Abinay Ganapathy converted their fourth penalty-corner, and went 3-1 up through a penalty stroke in the 58th minute, which was awarded when Ajay
Aiyappa's was stick checked by a CISF defender inside the circle. Junior international Arun Rawat, who took the penalty-stroke, was bang on target.

CISF reduced the margin with just eight minutes to go for the final hooter, when centre-half Prateek Kumar converted their fourth penalty-corner.

CISF's defender Bharath Kumar Baghwar was temporarily suspended with a yellow card in the 66th minute for rough play.

Karnataka XI forced six penalty-corners while their opponents could muster just four.

The Indian Oil-Bhopal XI match was a keen affair which saw the teams locked 1-1 at half-time. But a second-half rally by Indian Oil left the Bhopal side stunned.

Giant-killers Bhopal, who had ousted champions Air India in the second round, took the lead in the 16th minute through forward Amjad Khan's field goal.

With just three minutes to go for the breather Indian Oil equalised when Prabhjot Singh scored through a penalty-stroke.

Inderjeet Singh made it 2-1 when he converted the team's eighth penalty-corner in the 59th minute.

Three minutes later Prabhjot sounded the boards again off a Viren Rasquinha pass.

Within three minutes of that goal, skipper Deepak Thakur made it 4-1 with a field goal before Prabhjot rounded off the tally with just a minute to go for the final hooter.

Tomorrow:

Pool B quarter-final league: Indian Airlines vs EME, Jalandhar; Western Railway vs Sikh Regiment Centre.