Avinash Bhide Hockey: Pune Police,RCF Mumbai in summit clash

In the first semifinal,RCF,Mumbai defeated Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) Kirkee by a solitary goal. The match was off to a fiery start with both teams applying equal pressure on the opposition goal. RCF had the better of the opening exchanges but could not make the most of those. BEG launched a few attacks towards the end of the first half but failed to score . The half ended goalless.

The second half saw RCF start on the front foot. They applied constant pressure on the opposition goal and were rewarded for it in the 38th minute when they took the lead through Vikram Yadav. Yadav was well set up by Laxman Rao and he made no mistake in slotting the ball past the keeper.

This goal gave a lot of confidence and RCF were soon passing the ball well. BEG staged a fight back in the last ten minutes but to no avail. They created some good moves through playmaker Rohit Dungdung but could not manage to breach the RCF Garrison. The referee blew his final whistle soon after and the match ended 1-0. Rohit Dungdung of BEG was awarded the man-of- the-match.

In the second semifinal Pune Police blanked out opponents Railway Police 3-0 in what was a one-sided encounter. The policemen started well and created many opportunities to score in the opening ten minutes. After putting the opposition goal under constant pressure,Vinod Sehlkar managed to break the dead lock and gave his team a well-deserved lead. He scored at the end of a penalty corner taken in the 16 th minute. Railway Police then created a couple of chances to score but none that troubled the keeper.

Pune Police then took over again and put the opposition goal under constant threat. They did not manage to extend their lead,however,and the half ended 1-0.

It was more of the same from Pune Police in the second half with the ball being mostly in the opposition half. The 60th minute saw Harish Sakpal extend his teams lead after being well set up by Datta Shinde. Pune Police were cruising at this stage and there was no looking back for them. Kunal Jagdale added the icing on the cake in the 65 th minute after a good pass from Reuben Kedari. Soon After,the referee blew the final whistle and the match ended 3-0. Harish Sakpal was declared the man of the match.

Pune Police will take on RCF,Mumbai in the finals tomorrow at 4 ‘o’ clock while the battle for third place will take place between Railway Police and BEG,Kirkee at 3.