BHUBANESWAR: Tom Boon's hat-trick sealed Ranchi Royals their spot in the final, beating Hyderabad Toofans 3-2 in Qualifier 2 at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday. They will face Vedanta Kalinga Lancers in the final on Monday. Hyderabad will face HIL GC in the third-place match.
Hyderabad Toofans registered an early lead in the fifth minute of play. Rajinder Singh pushed the ball to the unmarked Jacob Anderson who opened the account for Toofans.
Boon scored the equaliser in the 13th minute through a penalty stroke. Two minutes later Boon doubled his tally off a penalty corner.
Boon completed his hat-trick in the 34th minute. However, in the third quarter, Hyderabad got three penalty corners, they converted a PC in the 38th minute by Amandeep Lakra. In the last quarter, Toofans also got three PCs , but failed to convert into a goal.
Post the match, Royals' Technical advisor and former Olympian Lazarus Barla said: "This match is like a final for us, our team played well to move forward for the final. In qualifier 1 against Kalinga Lancers we played well but lost. In the final we will try our best to win the title.”