Hockey: PNB, Namdhari XI, Indian Oil and BPCL in semi finals of All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Hockey Champion Trophy 2012

Ludhiana, October 24, 2012: Punjab National Bank, Namdhari XI, Indian Oil and BPCL will fight in the semi finals of Perfect Real Estate All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Hockey Champion Trophy 2012.

The semi finals of men section will be played amongst these teams on October 26 at Olympian Pirthipal Singh Hockey Stadium, Punjab Agricultural University, here today.These four teams qualified for the semis during different matches played at this hockey stadium since October 21.

The first match of day four of All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Hockey Champion Trophy 2012 ended in a draw as Indian Army and Indian Oil drew 3-3 at the end of the match. The Indian Oil team with the likes of Olympians Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan and internationals like Inderjeet Singh Chadha played good game and got several moves to score a victory.But the players of Indian Army gave them tough fight, which led to the match ending in a draw. Out of total six goals scored in the match, five came with the help of penelty corners.

In the first match of the day, it was Hamza Murtaza who opened the account for Indian Oil when he converted a penelty corner into goal in 40th minute of the match. Chandan of Indian Army equalised the score in 54th minute when he converted a penelty corner into goal. Another goal by Chandan in 56th minute of the match gave his team a 2-0 lead over their opponents. But this lead could not sustain for long as Afzal Yousuf of Indian Oil scored an equaliser two minutes later, in 58th minute. Another goal for Indian Oil was scored by Sunil Yadav in 62nd minute and the team started leading by 3-2. This lead could not stay for long as Milan of Indian Army scored an equaliser with the help of a field goal in 68th minute of the match. In the end, the match ended in a draw paving way for Indian Oil into the semi finals.

 The second and last match of the day, BPCL vs Indian Air Force was won by BPCL by 3-2. A keenly played match, the Indian Air Force team wanted to defeat their opponents at every cost but could not manage. First goal of the match was scored by Harwant Singh of Indian Air Force in 9th minute. Gurpreet Singh of BPCL scored an equaliser in 22nd minute with the help of a field goal.

 Hari Prasad of BPCL provided lead to his team when he scored a goal in 37th minute of the match, but the score was equalised by 2-2 when Virender scored an equaliser in 43rd minute. It was second goal of the match for Gurpreet Singh in 49th minute which helped BPCL register a victory over Indian Air Force. In the end it was BPCL which scored victory over its opponents.

The semi finals of the hockey championship will be played amongst Punjab National Bank vs BPCL at 4 pm and Indian Oil vs Namdhari XI at 8 pm on October 26.