JALANDHAR, NOV 4 ; Star-packed Punjab XI (Pakistan) having six Olympians and seven Internationals in their line-up made a fying start in the 31st Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today. They won their opening match against beating Punjab National Bank, Delhi by 4-1 to earn three full points.
In another match in the men’s section CAG Delhi and Namdhari XI Sirsa played a 1-1 draw and split points.
Riding on the hat-trick by Narinder Kaur, Punjab XI (India) beat Rest of Pakistan by 4-0 to earn three points in the women’s round robin league.
In men’s Pool C match Punjab XI (Pakistan) displayed controlled and fast hockey against Punjab National Bank Delhi. In the very first minute of the play Pakistan) team took lead with the field goal scored by Moh. Afzal (1-0). In the 15th minute of the play Punjab XI (Pakistan) earned penalty corner and Olympian Toseeq converted it to consolidate lead (2-0).
In the 39th minute Punjab National Bank were able to reduce the margin with penalty corner conversion by Lakhwinder Singh (1-2). In 51st minute Pakistan’s Olympian Waqas scored a field goal after dodging goal keeper of the Bank (3-1). In 58th minute Punjab XI’s Dogar scored a field goal (4-1) and completed the score sheet.
In the second match CAG Delhi and Namdhari XI Sirsa frittered away a number of scoing chances in the first half of the match. Both teams wasted two opportunities to score. However, in the 25th minute CAG Delhi took the lead with penalty corner conversion by D S Darshan (1-0).
In the 62nd minute Namdhari XI earned a penalty corner their Sumeet Singh converted it to equalize (1-1).
A hat-trick by Narinder Kaur helped Punjab-XI to earn full points against the Rest of Pakistan women hockey team.
In the round robin league match women section of the tournament, Punjab (India) girls defeated Rest of Pakistan by 4-0, . Experienced hockey players of Punjab started their attacks right from the word “go” and started their attacks from the left flank. Punjab girls took the lead in the 23rd minute of the game when their outside right Ramandeep Kaur scored a field goal (1-0).
The Punjab girls added two more goals both goals scored by Narinder Kaur in 29th and 31st minute of the play. Rest of Pakistan goal keeper Rizwana Yasmin exhibited good goalkeeping and made good saves for Pakistani girls. At half time Punjab-XI were leading by 3-0.
After lemon break, the Pakistan girls made some good moves but for their poor finishing in the striking circle, they failed to reduce the margin. The Pakistan girls played almost defensive game and the Punjab girls earned three penalty in a row but their penalty corner experts failed to convert any of them. The Punjab girls added another field goal scored through Narinder Kaur (4-0). Narinder Kaur of Punjab XI earned the distinction of scoring the first hat-trick in this edition of the tournament.
Mrs. Rajbir Kaur Rai, Former Asian gold medalist Mrs Rajbir Kaur Rsi and Akali leader Baljit Singh Neelamahal were the chief guests.
Wednesday’s fixtures: Punjab XI (Pakistan) v/s Rail Coach Factory– (women) 12-45 p.m.
Punjab XI (India) v/s Haryana XI (women) –14-00 p.m.
Indian Oil Mumbai v/s Indian Overseas Bank — 3-30 p.m.
Bharat Petroleum Mumbai v/s Army XI – 5-00 p.m.