May 24: Khalsa Gymkhana routed Brothers 5-1 after leading 1-0 at half-time in a second-round match of the second Police Cup Hockey Tournament at the Naigaum Police ground, today.Khalsa found the going tough in the first-half as Brothers with their skill held them at bay. But it was in the second session that Brothers lacked stamina and their defence caved in.Hardeep Singh Saini, the Khalsa coach and schemer, put them one-up in the 25th minute. Thereafter Surinder Singh scored thrice while Saini scored one more. The consolation goal for Brothers was netted by Azimuddin Siddique. Khalsa now meet Companeroes in the third round.In an exciting encounter, Bombay Republicans went down 2-4 to Greater Mumbai Police via the tie-breaker. The cops took the lead early in the tenth minute when Bandu Jagtap made the most of a defensive lapse.Republicans missed easy chances through their star forward Manoj Lokhande. They earned 11 penalty-corners but couldn't convert any of them. Lokhande even failed to converta stroke but scored the equaliser through a gem of an effort. In the tie-breaker, goalkeeper Dilip Lad turned out to be the hero after he brought off four saves for the cops who meet Central Railway in the quarter-finals.In yet another match, MPT scored a 2-1 victory over Central Railway Mumbai Division after leading 1-0 at half-time.Salauddin Siddique and Digvijay Naik scored for the winners and Rakesh pulled a goal back for the losers.
