Defending champion Air India failed to make the semifinals of the PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup all-India hockey tournament despite beating Tamil Nadu XI 5-4 in the concluding Group A league match on Thursday.
Air India finished third, behind Army XI on goal difference. Western Railway topped the group with a 5-3 win over the armymen earlier.
Indian Oil and South Central Railway — the top two finishers when the league phase ended — qualified for the semifinals from Group B.
The results: League: Western Railway 5 (Amit Rohidas 2, Malak Singh, Jaykaran, Vinod Singh) bt Army XI 3 (Chandan Aind, Jonny Jasrotia, A.P. Siraju). Air India 5 (Sameer Dad, Gaganpreet Singh 3, Joga Singh) bt Tamil Nadu XI 4 (V. Raja, M. Dhileepan, A. Albert John, D. Dhamu). Comptroller & Auditor General 3 (Savvjeet Singh, Mohd. Naeemuddin, Dhyan Singh) drew with Indian Oil 3 (Prabhjot Singh 2, Vikash Sharma).
Semifinal line-up: W. Rly vs SCR. Indian Oil vs Army XI.
