CHENNAI: Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) continued their dominant run in 96th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament with a 5-2 victory over SAI NCOE, Bhopal in a thrilling Pool A match held at Chennai on Thursday. Gursahibjit Singh was the standout performer for RSPB, bagging a hat-trick with goals in the 7th (penalty corner), 28th and 59th minutes (both field goals). Supporting him, Darshan Gawkar added to the tally in the 21st minute with a field goal, while Shivam Anand struck another in the 26th minute.
Despite trailing 4-0 at one point, NCOE fought back with grit in the third quarter. Mohit Karma opened the scoring for NCOE with a field goal in the 32nd minute, followed by Munish Malik who added another in the 37th minute. In a desperate attempt to close the gap late in the match, NCOE substituted their goalkeeper for an additional field player in the last quarter. The move, however, proved counter-productive as RSPB capitalized and extended their lead.
In the second match of the day, Indian Navy (INN) registered a 3-2 win over Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC).
IOC took the lead early in the second half through Raghunath V R, who converted a penalty corner in the 45th minute. The advantage, however, was short-lived as Indian Navy mounted a rapid response.
Selvaraj K was the standout performer today, scoring twice for the Indian Navy, first in the 49th minute from a penalty corner and again with a well-taken field goal in the 55th minute. In between, Ashish Topno scored a field goal in the 54th minute, capping a remarkable 3-1 lead. In the last minute, IOC narrowed the deficit through Gurjinder Singh, who scored from a penalty corner in the 60th, but Navy held on to secure the win. With this victory over IOC, Indian Navy held on to their 1st position in Pool B.
Results: Pool A: Indian Railways (RSPB) 5 (Gursahibjit Singh 7th, 28th and 59th; Darshan Gawkar 21st ; Shivam Anand 26th) bt SAI NCOE, Bhopal 2 (Mohit Karma 32nd; Munish Malik 37th).
Pool B: Indian Navy (INN) 3 (Selvaraj K 49th and 55th minute; Ashish Topno 54th) bt Indian Oil Corporation LTD (IOC) 2 (Ragunath VR 45th; Gurjinder Singh 60th).