MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup

Perhaps for the first time in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) sensed that it could enter the knock-outs.

Starting with a draw against Maharashtra, the team then recorded a huge win over Indian Army in its second match, followed by a thrilling draw with SAI-NCOE (Bhopal) giving the belief that the host might make it to the semifinals. But defending champion Indian Railways did it no favour, posting a 6-0 thrashing here on Tuesday to maintain an all-win record.

In Pool-B, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) put it across Malaysian National junior team 2-0 through goals from Gurjinder Singh and Sumit Kumar, both coming off penalty corners. Malaysia is out of contention along with Central Board of Direct Taxes from the pool.  

With five points and a goal difference of -2 from its four matches, Tamil Nadu’s chances of making the last four depend on how the other two teams in contention fare, NCoE (four points from three matches) and Army (three from three), in their last group matches.

Two goals each from former International Gursahibjit Singh and Pankaj Rawat ensured Railways complete the rout. But it was Gursahibjit who was instrumental in the champion team’s triumph.

Railways opened the account towards the end of first quarter. A poor aerial pass from Tamil Nadu defender G.M. Pruthvi found striker Darshan Gawkar, who passed it to Gursahib, who in turn, hoodwinked two defenders and slammed a backhander home. Pankaj doubled the lead through a scorching grounder off a penalty corner.

The third goal for Railways resulted from a defensive lapse on part of the host. Patras Tirkey’s pass was intercepted by Gursahibjit who did the rest. Railways scored three quick goals in the fourth quarter.

The results: Pool A: Indian Railways 6 (Gursahibjit Singh 15, 34, Pankaj Rawat 30, 48, Simranjot Singh 52, Shivam Anand 54) bt HUTN 0. B: IOC 2 (Gurjinder Singh 33, Sumit Kumar 58) bt Malaysian National junior team 0.