Bhopal: In the final of Obaidullah Khan Heritage Hockey Cup, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd will face Railway Sports Promotion Board in the evening today.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) defeated Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) 3-2 in the shootout while Air India Sports Promotion Board lost 1-2 to the Railway Sports Promotion Board in shootout in the semifinal of the tournament.
The semifinals however, were not easily won matches for the two teams which can be known from the climaxes. In the first one, BPCL triumphed over ONGC via a shootout. ONGC started the scoreboard ticking in the 9th minute via a PA Macheiah goal. And it took BPCL 25 minutes as Tushar Khandker rolled back the years with an equaliser for BPCL in the 34th minute. With that the two teams went on defensive strategy with some aggressive tries- meaning the game was up for a great climax in shootout.
And it was won 3-2 by BPCL with SV Sunil, Amir Khan & Birender Lakra scoring for the winning team while Diwakar Ram & Mandeep Antil scoring for ONGC. Tushar Khandker was adjudged the Man of the Match.
In the second semifinal Railways defeated Air India to enter title clash against BPCL (Image Credit: HI)
In the second semifinal, Railways took on Air India in a game which saw a flurry of goals in the first half; Air India who started the scoreboard ticking in the 4th minute via Mehkeet Singh. Railways hit back in the 6th minute via an Amit Rohidas PC conversion. 22nd minute saw Pradeep Singh hitting another gem for Railways and 44th minute saw Gagandeep Singh’s successful conversion of the penalty stroke for Air India. The scoreboard read 2-2 in the end to take the game into a shootout.
The shootout of the second semifinal saw, Talwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh as the scorers hitting the target as it went 2-1 in favor of Railways. Pradeep Singh was named the Man of the Match.
BPCL take on Railways at 1830 hours for the title, today while ONGC take on Air India at 1630 hours for the third place.