The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Bharat Petroleum downs TN XI

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Bharat Petroleum downs TN XI

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Bharat Petroleum beat Tamil Nadu XI 4-1 in a Pool A quarterfinal league at the 46th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament here on Friday.

Gurpreet Singh had a major hand in BP’s progress, netting two goals and setting up Devender for the third. Playmaker Sabu Varkey, effective as ever when used in short spells, added another.

Hyderabad XI pumped in four goals against Central Railway, which looked out of sorts near the goal.

Philip Martin’s crafty deflection off a defence-splitting diagonal from Adam Sinclair put TN XI ahead. Jolted by the 20th-minute reverse, BP swung into action but found custodian Arun Prasad getting in the way, firmly blocking two low shots at the far post.

Varkey, gifted a loose ball near the goalmouth due to a defensive lapse, finished off the move in style with an acute angle shot. Gurpreet then swung into action, his first goal coming via a direct penalty corner conversion. A free hit from him found Devender in position to deflect home. Gurpreet converted a penalty stroke for the fourth goal of the match.

TN XI faded away after the first half showing.

The results (Pool A quarterfinal league): Hyderabad XI 4 (Arvind, Suresh Singh, T. Sudheer, Rama Swamy) bt Central Railway 0; Bharat Petroleum 4 (Sabu Varkey, Gurpreet Singh 2, Devender) bt Tamil Nadu XI 1 (Philip Martin). Pool C: Indian Oil 6 (Didar Singh 3, Hamza Mujtaba, Karan Singh, Ranjodh Singh) bt Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy 0.