SCR, BPCL enter Gold Cup semis

Holders South Central Railway, Secunderabad, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited sealed their places in the semi- finals of the 52nd Bombay Gold Cup all India hockey tournament on Saturday.

SCR moved a step closer to their title defence with a hardfought 2- 0 over Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Delhi.

In the other quarter- final, former champions BPCL cruised to an authoritative 5- 2 win over another Delhi outfit, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

SCR took the lead via Lovepreet Singh in the ninth minute. Later, Ponnacha M. G. tapped home the rebound after Gagandeep Singh’s drag- flick from a penalty corner came back off the goalkeeper Mrinal Choubey’s pads in the 59th minute.

In the second match, Bharat Petroleum scored two quick goals inside the opening 10 minutes through S. V. Sunil and Mohammad Amir Khan.

BPCL continued to push forward and struck the third through Lalit Upadhyay, who scored after receiving a pass from the left in the 24th minute.

Down 0- 3 at half time, ONGC managed to get on the scoreboard with two quick goals to reduce the deficit.

In the 42nd minute, international Gurjant Singh trapped a rebound from the post and sent the ball crashing to the net.

Then in the 55th minute another Indian star, Mandeep Singh, deftly deflected home a long hit from the right.

But BPCL hit back in the very next minute through Jarnail Singh, who scored their fourth goal with a firm reverse hit before Amir Khan found the target again for the team’s fifth goal, which killed the contest.