Surjit Hockey Tournament: Bharat Petroleum (M), Railways enter semis

The teams of Bharat Petroleum, Mumbai, Punjab and Sind Bank, Delhi, and Indian Railways reached the semi-finals of the 41st Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament. In the first league match, former winners Punjab and Sind Bank, Delhi, defeated Army XI by 3-1 while in the last league match, the teams of Indian Railways, Delhi, and CAG, Delhi, drew 2-2. The Indian Railways team entered the semi-finals on the basis of better goal average. In the first semi-final, Bharat Petroleum will take on Indian Railways, Delhi, and in the second semi-final, Indian Oil, Mumbai, will take on Punjab and Sind Bank, Delhi, on October 25. The last two matches of the league round were played in this ongoing tournament at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium.

Pool B of the tournament was the most exciting one of all. Two quarters of a match between Punjab Police, Jalandhar, and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, were played in this pool on 20 October, the match could not be completed after half time due to a technical fault in the floodlights. At the time the match was stopped, Rail Coach Factory was leading by 1-0. In the remaining two quarters played on Thursday, the match between the two teams was very competitive. In the 49th minute of the game, Olympian Rupinderpal Singh equalised by converting the penalty corner into a goal. As the match was tied, both the teams got one point each. The three teams included in this pool are Punjab Police, Bharat Petroleum and Rail Coach Factory. They had two points after two league matches. The goal average of Bharat Petroleum and Rail Coach Factory was equal due to which the two teams had to decide through a shoot-out, which the the former won 3-0.