Chennai,Nov 4:
Indian Navy and Indian Army secured the remaining semifinal places in the 97th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament after contrasting results at the SDAT Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Thursday.
Navy booked its place with a convincing 4-2 victory over Malaysia Junior Team, finishing second in Pool B. Army advanced from Pool A after defending champion Indian Railways and Punjab National Bank played out an entertaining 4-4 draw. The result ended PNB’s hopes of qualification, as it needed to win by a seven-goal margin to move ahead.
Navy will face Pool A topper and defending champion Indian Railways in Saturday’s semifinal. Pool B winner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) will take on Army in the other last-four encounter.
Navy, needing only a draw to qualify, started aggressively and created several opportunities. Bhavin Kushalappa opened the scoring in the eighth minute after Sushil Dhanwar had struck the left post two minutes earlier. Malaysia responded through Muhamad Harith, who found the net from close range in the 27th minute to bring his team level.
The Indian side restored its advantage in the 30th minute when K. Selvaraj deflected Sanjit Toppo’s drag-flick into the goal following a penalty corner delivered by Pawan Rajbhar. Rajbhar then extended Navy’s lead with a close-range flick into the top of the net in the 36th minute. Nitesh made it 4-1 in the 43rd minute, before Muhammad Aizat reduced the margin for Malaysia a minute later. Navy held on comfortably to secure the win and its semifinal berth.
In the other match, Railways and PNB shared eight goals in a 4-4 draw. Sheshe Gowda scored twice from penalty corners for Railways, while Lovepreet Singh and Jaswinder Singh added one goal each. PNB’s Gursimran Singh opened the scoring, before Naveen Antil struck three times in the final stages. However, the draw was not enough for PNB, allowing Army to progress to the semifinals.