Dominant IOCL enter title clash

IOCL coasted to a 5-2 win over BPCL to book their berth in the final of the Bengaluru Cup All-India tournament at the KSHA here on Tuesday.

IOCL could have won by a bigger margin but for the prodigality of their forwards in missing chances and two late goals by former India winger Prabhjot Singh helped them through the final minutes when BPCL looked certain to draw level.

Earlier in the day, Karnataka XI slumped to a new low as Air India handed them a 2-6 tharshing. 

Coming on the back of a shock 5-3 defeat against Army XI on Monday, Air India needed a win in their last league encounter to make a bid for a place in Friday’s final and Dhanraj Pillay’s team were up to the task for the word go.

In the fourth minute, the men from Mumbai kick started their goal fest as BK Muthanna scored from a Joga Singh pass giving his team a 1-0 lead.

Karnataka came close to drawing parity in the ninth minute. But KR Umesh missed an easy chance in front of the goal after captain MB Aiyappa’s lob into the striking circle set him up with just the keeper to beat.

Later the local lads were made to pay for the missed opportunites as Air India went on to double their lead. Gaganpreet Singh making it 2-0 for them from a penalty corner in the 14th minute.

Just before Karnataka could sort out their defence, the scorers were once again called into action as Gaganpreet drag flicked his team to a comfortable 4-0 lead with goals in 22nd and 30th minutes.

Though Karnataka XI opened their account in the 34th minute through an Umesh strike it was too late for the local boys to comeback. After the break, Joga scored twice for Air India within a span of 10 minutes to put the result beyond doubt.


Other Results: Men: IOCL: 5 (Gurjinder Singh 7th, 32nd, Deepak Thakur 15th, Prabhjot Singh 66th, 69th) bt BPCL: 2 (Gurpreet Singh 26th, Tushar Khandkar 62nd).  

Women: Karnataka XI: 4 (Komala BM 12th, Muthamma PG 15th, Sandhya HP 42nd, 54th) bt Tamil Nadu: 3 (M Cladisando 28th, K Kalavathi 30th, Vijaya Lakshmi 55th); Haryana: 2 (Jyoti Gupta 43rd, 64th) bt Central Railway: 0.