Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd. did Air India a favour by defeating Army XI 2-1 in the concluding league fixture of Hockey Karnataka's inaugural Bengaluru Cup All-India Hockey Tournament here Thursday.
While unbeaten IOC finished the league with four wins, Air India joined them in Friday's final with a tally of six while Army XI, who needed a win Thursday to advance to the title round, remained on four.
Despite missing their India stars, IOC still had enough ammunition to overpower Army XI with strikes by Jaswinder Singh and Thimmanna in the first half before they conceded a goal when Binay Bhengra sounded the boards from a goal-mouth scramble.
Trailing 1-2 at the break, Army XI did everything but score on resumption with their forwards repeatedly missing the target, not to mention the eight penalty corners they failed to convert.
Earlier, MP Academy topped the women's league by defeating Haryana 2-0 in a match that was essentially a rehearsal of Friday's final between the two teams that had already qualified. Academy finished with 13 points and Haryana second with 12.
MP Academy wrapped up the game in the first half when they scored twice through Karishma Singh who put home Reena Khokhar's diagonal pass and Shivani Singh who deflected Ramngaihzuali's cross.
Western Railway drubbed Tamil Nadu XI 16-0 with Navneet Kaur and Anupa Bala scoring four goals apiece in an inconsequential league match.
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Western finished third in the league with seven points, ahead of Central Railway (7), Karnataka XI (4) and Tamil Nadu XI (0).
Results:
Men: IOC 2 (Jaswinder Singh 7, Thimanna 26) beat Army XI 1 (Binay Bhengra 28).
Women: MP Academy 2 (Karishma Singh 11, Shivani Singh 35) beat Haryana 0.
Western Railway 16 (Pooja Ravi 2, 11; Jaswinder Kaur 6; Rujita Kumar 15; Pinky Devi 18, 57; Manjit Kaur 21, 43; Navneet Kaur 23, 52, 64, 69; Anupa Bala 45, 47, 65, 66) beat Tamil Nadu XI 0.