Indian Airlines, PSB in semis

MUMBAI, JANUARY 19: Indian Airlines, sans stars, overcame a sluggish start in the early stanza of either half, before they crushed Border ...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 19: Indian Airlines, sans stars, overcame a sluggish start in the early stanza of either half, before they crushed Border Security Force 5-2 in a quarter-final match of the 39th All-India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, on Friday.

The highlight of the game was two splendid reverse-shot goals by Olympian Mukesh Kumar and the inclusion of three-time Olympian Merwyn Fernandes, who took up the field after a nine-year break from hockey for the Airlines team. Merwyn played for a brief spell and could only distribute a couple of fine passes. One of the moves, which Merwyn sparked off, resulted in the fifth goal which Airlines scored.

In the other quarter-final game, last yearâ€™s runners-up Punjab and Sind Bank edged-out Army XI 5-3 via the tie-breaker, after the two were looked 1-1 at the end of the regulation period.

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The Airlines-BSF game was an interesting affair. BSF found their bearings easily and after a couple of misses, wrested the lead in the tenth minute. A penalty-corner shot by Mangru Tirkey brooked no answer from Airlines â€™keeper AB Subbaiah.

A Christopher Ekka shot, off a cross from the right by by BSFâ€™s Devinder Kumar, flew high over the crosspiece, a minute before Mukesh Kumar levelled terms for IA with a goal in the 24th minute. Mukesh increased the lead in the 33rd minute with another top-of-the-circle reverse shot, following a pass by Virender Singh.Airlines were all charged up with these two goals and had the BSF defence tied up in knots. BSF goalkeeper Harwinder Singh brought a fine save following a stiff shot by IAâ€™s Yogendra Singh Rawat.

PSB ENTER SEMIS: Punjab and Sind Bank enjoyed a slight edge over Army XI in the earlier game. They took the lead through Sandeep Singh Seep who scored following a penalty-corner. Army levelled terms through a â€˜strokeâ€™ conversion by Avtar Singh.

In the tie-breaker, Saranjit Singh, Ajit Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh and Prabhdeep Singh made no mistake for PSB. Only Cyrian Aind and veteran KK Poonacha were on target for Army XI.

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PSB now await the winner of the Air-India-SAIL clash, scheduled to played on Saturday at 4.00 pm.

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