Central Secretariat to meet IOC in all-India hockey semifinal

Central Secretariat defeated Punjab & Sind Bank 4-2 in a Pool 'B' match on Thursday to qualify for the semifinals of the 93rd All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here.

In the last four, Central Secretariat will take on a strong Indian Oil Corporation team, which topped Pool 'A'.

In the other semifinal, Indian Navy, which topped Pool 'B' with three wins and a draw, will meet Punjab National Bank, second in Pool 'A'.

Central Secretariat found itself a goal down when Harmanjit Singh scored for PSB in the 13th minute. Govind Singh Rawat restored parity for the Delhi team with a penalty corner conversion in the 19th minute.

The Central Secretariat team went ahead by two goals as Dharambir Yadav and Gaurav Kumar Jagat Singh scored in the 24th and 30th minutes respectively.

Though Satbir Singh pulled one back for PSB, Umar Mohammed finished things off for Secretariat with a 55th minute penalty corner conversion.

In the second match of the day, Punjab National Bank and IOC played out a 3-3 draw.

The scorers for IOC were Armaan Qureshi (6th minute) and Gurjinder Singh (16th m, penalty stroke and 33rd minute).

For PNB, the goals came from Abhishek (8th m), Smit Toppo (20th) and Mandeep Mor (50th m).