ONGC power past IndianOil
Bangalore   08-May-2012

Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) posted a hard-fought 5-3 win over IndianOil to soar to the top of the points table in the Ozone Group-KSHA National Hockey League championship at the KSHA stadium on Monday.

ONGC now have 21 points from eight matches while IndianOil and Air India remain on 19 and 18 points respectively after eight matches each. Air India, who had a chance to go atop the standings, were shocked 4-1 by BPCL in the day’s last game.

Ramandeep Singh scored a brace for ONGC (52nd, 62nd minutes) while Diwakar Ram (6th), Mandeep Antil (20th) and Lalit Upadhya (48th) netted the other goals. Deepak Thakur (30th, 69th) and Gurjinder Singh (58th) struck for IndianOil.

The game progressed at a frenetic pace with attacking hockey on display from both the teams. Diwakar’s penalty corner conversion got ONGC going while Ramandeep and Mandeep kept the pressure on the IndianOil defence. Mandeep slotted home the second ONGC goal following rebound off a penalty corner. ONGC were looking menacing but Deepak Thakur’s timely goal revived IndianOil hopes at half-time.

In the second half, IndianOil’s Prabhjot Singh and Roshan Minz came close in the 42nd minute with a couple of shots on goal. But Lalit slammed in off a Mandeep pass in the 48th minute as ONGC went 3-1 ahead.

Ramandeep then ran through the centre dribbling past two defenders to fire home the fourth goal in the 52nd minute for ONGC. But IndianOil were in no mood to give up and Gurjinder’s penalty corner conversion in the 58th minute kept them in the game.

In the 62nd minute, Ramandeep put the issue beyond doubt with a simple tap-in off a Preetinder Singh cross for his second and ONGC’s fifth goal. Thakur then hit the last goal of the game for IOCL in the 69th minute but ONGC held on to go ent home with three points.

Results: SAI: 3 (Naveen 6th, Sandeep 18th, 56th) bt IAF: 2 (Sanwar Ali 45th, Raminder Singh 53rd); ONGC: 5 (Diwakar Ram 6th, Mandeep Antil 20th, Lalit Upadhya 48th, Ramandeep 52nd, 62nd) bt IOCL: 3 (Deepak Thakur 30th, 69th, Gurjinder Singh 58th); BPCL: 4 (Ravipal Singh 19th, Amir Khan 22nd, Gurpreet Singh 35th, Pundalik 47th) bt Air India: 1 (Sameer Dad 2nd).

SZ hockey tournament

The Karnataka State Hockey Association will host the South Zone hockey championship from May 27 to June 1. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry will be taking part in the tournament that will be played on a single pool basis.

The winner will qualify for the Senior Nationals Championships to be conducted by the Indian Hockey Federation, according to a release from the Karnataka State Hockey Association.