ONGC edge past fancied Air India

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) men put in a superb peformance to edge Air India 4-3 in the Bengaluru Cup hockey tournament at the Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday.

Air India, who came into the match as favourites, were jolted early in the game as ONGC opened the scoring in the fourth minute from a penalty corner.

Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram sent in an rasping shot past Air India custodian Gurpreet Singh to give his side an unlikely lead. With the chips down, the Aircraftmen took their game up a notch and responded with a superb goal from Pawan Kumar.

Sheshagowda BM sent in a penetrative pass and Pawan got on the end of it, scoring from the a tight angle with a reverse hit.

ONGC, who needed a win to improve their chances of a top-two finish, looked like they were really up for the game and took the lead again in the 21st minute from the spot through Harpal Singh.

In the second half, two quickfire goals from Gurwinder Singh Chandi (43rd) and Tyron Pereira (46th) gave ONGC a 4-1 lead as last year’s runners up stared down the barrel.

Air India, though, staged a minor comeback with Prabodh Tirkey scoring in the 56th minute and Nitesh Kiro adding a third in the 60th but ONGC remained tactically aware in defence and saw out the game.

Karnataka eves crash out

Earlier, the Karnataka XI women’s team exited from the tournament in a meek manner as they were routed 3-0 by defending champions Madhya Pradesh Academy.

Results: Men: ONGC: 4 (Diwakar Ram 5th, Harpal Singh 21st, Gurwinder Singh 43rd, Tyron Pereira 46th) bt Air India: 3 (Pawan Kumar 10th, Prabodh Tirkey 56th, Nitesh Kiro 60th); IOCL: 5 (Prabhjot Singh 9th, 20th, 44th, Bharath 61st, Inderjit Singh 70th) bt BPCL: 2 (Gurpreet Singh 47th, Ravi Pal 67th).

 Women: MP Academy: 3 (Shivani Singh 23rd, Sidhi Singh 31st, Reena Khokhar 62nd) bt Karnataka XI: 0.