Railways and P and S Bank share spoils

Railways, which had pipped Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu in its opening day, had to settle for a solitary point in the Pool B duel. After a couple uneventful quarters, the match sparked to life in the third, with both teams getting one goal apiece. Gaganpreet Singh opened the scoring for P&S Bank in the 34th minute, but PR Aiyappa equalised for Railways four minutes later.

Both teams had failed to break the deadlock going into the half-time break. A penalty corner conversion helped Gaganpreet get his name on the scoresheet first. Railways pegged back immediately through PR Aiyappa, who put the ball in from a penalty stroke. After those twin strikes, the sparse crowd was treated to some poor finishing in the final quarter.

The board wasn’t disturbed, ending 1-1 after regulation time. In a Pool A encounter, Punjab National Bank edged Indian Air Force 2-1. Satender Dalal (14’) and Sukhjeet Singh (32’) struck for the winning side, while Ajit Pandit (40’) scored the solo goal for Air Force. In the last fixture of the day, Indian Oil Corporation defeated Indian Army 3-2.

Armaan Qureshi (19’), Affan Yousf (32’) and Gurjinder Singh (56’) ensured their team took home all three points.