Having already qualified for the semifinals, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indian Railways played out their respective last pool matches of the 95th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India hockey tournament on Thursday (September 26, 2024) in contrasting fashion.
With four of its key players suffering from viral fever, IOC wasn’t keen to push them, and it reflected in the way the team performed on the field. The former champion ensured it pulled off a 5-5 draw with NCOE, Bhopal in a Pool-B contest and remain the leader in its group. Later, in a Pool-A match, the defending champion Indian Railways didn’t allow any such concessions to its opponent as it thrashed Tamil Nadu 5-0 to top the group. Friday is a rest day. The semifinals - Railways versus Odisha and IOC versus Army - will be held on Saturday.
The results:
Pool-A: Railways 5 (Pardeep Singh 7 & 15, Aditya Singh 10, Shivam Anan 39, Affan Yousuf 43) bt Tamil Nadu 0.
Pool-B: IOC 5 (Roshan Minz 8, Affan Yousuf 10, Talwinder Singh 29, Sumit Kumar 45, Manpreet 59) drew with NCOE (Bhopal) 5 (Sadiq Mohd. 16, Pawan Kumar Jaat 23 & 52, Faraz Md. 28, Parmod 43).
Points table:
Team, played, won, draw, lost, points:
Pool-A: Railways, 4, 3, 1, 0, 10; Army 4, 2, 2, 0, 8; BPCL 4, 1, 1, 2, 4; TN 4, 1, 0,3, 3; Maharashtra 4, 1, 0, 3, 3.
Pool-B: IOC, 4, 3, 1, 0, 10; Odisha 4, 2, 1, 1, 7; Karnataka 4, 2, 0, 2, 6; NCOE, Bhopal 4, 1, 1, 2, 4; Central Secretariat 4, 0, 1, 3, 1.
ENDS
Published - September 27, 2024 04:38 am IST
