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NT Bureau
Chennai, Dec 23:
 

Quarterfinal action at the MCC - Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament saw BPCL and Namdhari XI post victories yesterday.

        Bharat Petroleum, Mumbai and Namdhari XI, Punjab, advanced to the semi-finals by posting 2-1 wins over Indian Railways and IHF Development team respectively in the 83rd MCC - Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here yesterday.

        BPCL put paid to the aspirations of former champions Railways and set up a semi-final clash against Namdhari, who got the better of IHF outfit in extra-time.

        Namdhari and IHF were 1-1 at regulation time and Rupinder Pai Singh netted the winner in the fourth minute of extra-time for the winners.

        In a fast-paced first quarterfinal match, Railways made frequent visits to the rival citadel and were rightly rewarded with a 26th minute goal.

        However,the efforts of Raju and Railway forwards were dashed by the defenders as BPCL made good use of two penalty shots awarded for infringements.

        In the 29th minute, Railway goalkeeper Peter Fekerio was hauled up for an obstruction on veteran Ravi Nayyakar and then Amarjit Singh's intentional stick check on Amar Aiyamma helped BPCL in the 35th minute. Both the goals (penalty strokes) were converted by Prabhdeep Singh.

        In the other quarterfinal, with the rivals sharing two goals in 70 minutes of regulation time, the match drifted into 15 minutes of extra-time and the game was just four minutes old when Namdhari's Rupinder Pal Singh's struck the golden goal.