Chennai: Indian Railways pulled off a narrow 3-2 win over Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu in a Pool ‘B’ match of the 93rd All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here on Friday.
In other matches on a rain-swept evening at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium, Central Secretariat was held to a 2-2 draw by Indian Navy in Pool ‘B’ while debutant Indian Air Force downed Bengaluru Hockey Association 1-0 courtesy a 59th minute penalty corner conversion by Sukhdevv Singh.
The Railways-HUTN match saw the home team go ahead in the final minute of the first quarter, via a field goal by Mareeswaran. Parmeet levelled for Railways by converting a penalty corner in the 17th munute and the lead increased when PR Aiyappa beat the TN goalkeeper in the 20th minute.
Harsahib Singh scored a goal in the 33rd minute which turned out to be a match-winning effort as rest of the encounter failed to produce any strikes. Indian Navy squandered a 2-0 advantage to draw 2-2 with Central Secretariat (Delhi). Ajinkya Jadhav put the Navy team ahead in the 8th minute with a penalty corner strike before Aakib R Rahim increased the lead.
In the 40th minute, Dharambir Yadav pulled one back for the Delhi team before Govind Singh secured the equaliser in the final minute of the match.
Results: Pool A: Indian Air Force beat Bengaluru Hockey Association 1-0. Pool B: Indian Navy drew Central Secretariat 2-2, Railways beat Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 3-2.