The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Easy for Indian Oil

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Friday, Mar 09, 2007
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Easy for Indian Oil

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Didar Singh and V.R. Raghunath converted two penalty corners each as Indian Oil tamed Namdhari XI 5-2 after leading 2-1 at half time in the third all-India Oriental Bank Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Thursday.

The second comprehensive victory, following its 7-1 triumph over Border Security Force (BSF), helped Indian Oil literally assure itself of a semifinal berth from Pool `A.'

Setting the tempo

It was Raghunath who set the tempo with successive penalty corner conversions with his characteristic drags in the first-half.

The Namdharis had countered competently and responded with a goal by Sher Singh in the 15th minute.

However, on resumption, Didar served decisive blows as he converted two penalty corners after Raghunath's attempt at his third successive penalty corner had proved abortive as the Namdhari goalkeeper Swinder Singh had gloved it away.

Hope

After Gurpreet Singh had injected hope in the Namdhari ranks by making it 2-2 early in the second half with a drag flick, the repeated blows from Didar, apart from an opportunistic strike by Prabhjot Singh, left the Namdharis panting for breath.

Having beaten Indian Airlines in the opening encounter, Namdhari XI can still aspire to make the grade for the knock-out if it tackles BSF with competence.

Bharat Petroleum

posts win

Meanwhile, in a Pool `B' encounter, Bharat Petroleum recovered from being down 0-1 at half time to record a 3-1 triumph over Punjab National Bank.

Amar Aiyamma (2) and Tushar Khandekar scored in the space of 15 minutes midway through the second half after Sukhpal Singh had put the bankmen ahead in the 32nd minute.

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