The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Indian Airlines in semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 24, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Indian Airlines in semifinals

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Indian Airlines beat the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) under-21 team 2-0 to qualify for the semifinals of the Nehru hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium here on Friday.

Indian Airlines topped group ‘B’ of the super league with seven points, with Namdhari XI, which beat Border Security Force (BSF) 2-1 in another match, taking second place with five points.

The IHF team had four points, while BSF finished without a point.

From group ‘A’, Bharat Petroleum made the last-four grade and will meet Indian Airlines in one of the semifinals on Saturday.

The other will pit Punjab and Sind Bank against Namdhari XI.

Dhanraj Pillay, still full of pep, put Indian Airlines ahead in the 32nd minute, while Osaf-ur-Rehman added to the tally 14 minutes into the second half.

Harpal Singh slotted in both the goals for Namdhari XI against BSF, one off a penalty stroke and the other from a penalty corner.

BSF, no longer the force it used to be, pulled one back in the 64th minute through Peter Tirkey.

The only point of interest when Punjab National Bank XI met Indian Oil in the last group ‘A’ match was whether the bank team could win by a four-goal margin to keep BPCL out of the semifinal race.

In the event, it was Indian Oil, the defending champion, which won 2-0, though the victory, its first after two defeats mattered little in the eventual analysis.

Punjab and Sind Bank topped group ‘A’ with six points and a goal difference of 11-5, while BPCL, also with six points, had a goal difference of 8-6. PNB and Indian Oil, with three points each, ended up third and fourth in the pool.

Kamlesh Parihar and Didar Singh scored the goals for Indian Oil in the first half.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport