JOIN USSouth Central Railway (SCR) churned out a clinical performance to outclass Hockey Karnataka 4-2 in the men’s section of the 3rd Bengaluru Cup All India Invitation tournament at the Hockey Stadium here on Friday.
Raju Pal opened the scoring for SCR in the 18th minute and Vikas Choudhary added another two minutes later as they opened up a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Karnataka pulled one back through Cariappa MB in the 46th minute but Vikas restored SCR’s two-goal advantage three minutes later. Pal struck again for SCR in the 57th minute before a goal from KP Somiah in the 62nd minute reduced the deficit for the Verghese-coached side.
Karnataka started on a positive note, winning a penalty corner in the seventh minute. But they failed to make it count.
Soon after, they paid for their profligacy as SCR scored two back-to-back goals within a space of three minutes. Both the goals were scored through penalty corners.
The first was expertly converted by Pal while the second goal was scored by Vikas, whose ferocious hit ended in the bottom left corner of the net.
Karnataka pressed hard but SCR remained firm and went into the break leading 2-0.
The hosts returned to the field with a purpose but SCR wereupto the task and completed a comprehensive win.
Results: Men: PNB: 4 (Sukhjeet Singh 5th, Shamsher Singh 10th, Gurjinder Singh 11th, Gagandeep Singh jr 38th) bt Army XI (Machaiah BB 34th, 49th Arumugam S 68th); SCR: 4 (Raju Pal 18th, 57th, Vikas Choudhary 20th, 49th).
Women: SER: 3 (Punam Madhuri Tete 27th, Binita Xess 47th, Birajini Ekka 65th) bt Hockey Odisha:0; Hockey Haryana: 6 (Saroj 18th, 25th, 28th, 39th minute, Nicky 49th, Manisha 66th) bt Hockey Karnataka: 0.