Rlys, CRPF, A-I begin on winning note

First session of the match witnessed tough fight and both the teams tried to take edge over each other but defenders played key role and saved many a sure goals.

Lone goal of the match came through Anuj Tirkey in the 53rd minute on penalty corner.

Tirkey made no mistake and in a swift action dodged the goallkeeper and the defenders to put his team in comfortable position.

In the later part of the match, TN tried their best to at least draw the match by scoring an equaliser but their attempts were foiled.

Railways got two penalty corners converting one while TN failed to capitalise on the four awarded to them.

In Pool ‘B’, CRPF registered 2-1 win over Karnataka in a closely contested second match of the day.

Tanveer of the winning team drew the first blood in the 11th minute on a penalty corner while Mandama of Karnatkaa struck the equaliser in the dying moments of the first session which ended 1-1.

After changing sides, CRPF players played well coordinated game and played most of the game in opponent’s territory.

J Topno of the team sealed the fate of the match in the 54th minute by scoring excellent field goal. CRPF got six penalty corners while Karnataka were awarded five.

The encounter between PSB and Indian Oil in Pool ‘C’ ended in a 2-2 draw. Deepak Thakur of Indian Oil opened the account by scoring first goal of the match in 4th minute which was a field goal.

PSB’s Kanwal Preet Singh hit the equaliser by converting a penalty corner in the 29th minute, thus closing the first half 1-1.

After the breather, Indian Oil again established their lead after Kamlesh scored a fine field goal in the 62nd minute.

In the very next minute Baljit Singh Chandi of PSB again levelled the by scoring fine goal on a rebound after the penalty corner.

Helped by a superb two-goal contribution by Kishore Kumar Air-India defeated Hyderabad 2-1 in the keenly contested last scheduled encounter of the day in Pool ‘D’.

Kishore converted a penalty corner in the 18th minute but L Ramesh of Hyderbad levelled the score by scoring splendid goal in the 28th minute.

However, Kishore struck again in the 48th minute and scored a fine field goal to steer his team to victory.

AD Pallangappa, Narendra Singh, Satinder Sharma, RV Shellar, Blaise Montario, HS Sokhi, Mohd Muneer and Inakat Qureshi officiated the matches as umpires.