
NEW DELHI, November 22: Punjab and Sind Bank became the fourth team IHF, SAIL and BSF being the other teams to qualify for the semifinals of the 35th Nehru-ONGC senior hockey tournament at the National Stadium here today when they defeated Sports Hostel, Lucknow by a huge margin of 8-1 in their pool 3 encounter today.
In two other inconsequential games, Rock Rovers Chandigarh defeated Northern Raillways by a 3-2 margin in pool 4 while Army XI humbled Afghan Club from Pakistan 8-2, after the team from across the border had taken the lead in the sixth minute. The winners led 5-1 at the interval.
Harpreet Singh 3, Parminder Singh 2, Ram Saran 2 and Sandeep Singh penalty corner conversion scored for Punjab and Sind Bank in their facile win over the Lucknow team. The winners led 4-0 at the interval. For the losers, Ayaz Ahmed reduced the margin with a penalty stroke conversion in the 53rd minute.
Rock Rovers came back from a 1-2 deficit against Northern Railways to win their match. Manmohan Singh gave the Chandigarh team the lead in the ninth minute which was equalised by parmod Kumar in the 37th minute. Brijnesh put the railmen ahead in the 44th minute. But two goals by Jaswinder Singh and Inderjit Chadha in the space of three minutes gave Rock Rovers victory.
The Afghan Club surged ahead in the sixth minute through Sohail Khaliddar, converting a stroke. However, the team had to wait till the 59th minute for their next goal Tamoor Sameen. By that time, Army XI had banged seven goals to take a firm grip over the proceedings. K K Poonacha 2, K Horo 2, A Guria, F ravi, A Velu and B Horo were their goal-getters.