Mumbai: Defending champions Indian Oil, Mumbai could not have asked for a better start than this one as they had a roller coaster opening encounter with a 6-1 verdict, on the opening day of the 53rd edition, All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey championship, at the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL), MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate here on Monday. In a Pool ‘A’ encounter, it was the Bombay Republicans who were in the receiving end as they were no match to the star-studded Indian Oil.
Nevertheless, the local outfit, Republicans did put up some fight, and held back the superior side as they conceded just two goals in the first two quarters. However, the Indian Oil completely broke the Republicans resistance and scored four in the last two quarters to take the match away from the Mumbai side, who managed to score one goal in the third quarter.
For Indian Oil Nilam Sanjay Xess scored two, while V R Raghunath, Talwinder Singh, Deepak Thakur and Roshan Minz struck one each while Bombay Republicans pulled one back through Tyron Pereira. Earlier in a Pool-B match, South Central Railway steamrolled past Killedar XI winning by a thumping 11-1 margin.
Results
Pool-A: Indian Oil: 6 (Nilam Sanjay Xess 2, V R Raghunath, Talwinder Singh, Deepak Thakur, Roshan Minz) bt Bombay Republicans: 1 (Tyron Pereira).
Pool-B: South Central Railway: 11 (Poonacha M G 2, Raju Pal 2, Sheshe Gowda 2, Lovepreet Singh, Aiyappa PR, Guebhej Singh, Pratap Lakra, Sandeep Kumar Singh) bt Killedar XI: 1 (Romesh Pillay).