Punjab and Sind Bank had a smooth sail over Punjab Sports Club registering a 2-0 win in the other semi-final.

In the first match of the day, Punjab Police drew the first blood through Kuljeet Singh early in the third minute. However, their hope for an easy win was shattered with Indian Oil equalising through Inderjit Singh in the 50th minute. The 1-1 stalemate prevailed in the extra-time as well and the match rolled into the tie-breaker. Punjab Police converted through captain Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Kuljeet Singh and Satwinder Singh. For Indian Oil, Khusmeet and Bikramjit Singh missed their chances to see their team make a semi-final exit. Inderjit Singh, Hamza Mujtaba and Kamalesh Parihar scored in the tie-breaker for Indian Oil.

Punjab and Sind Bank settled the match against Kolkata-based Punjab SC, scoring both their goals by ninth minute of the match.

Mandeep Singh scored in the fourth minute, while Onkar Singh doubled the advantage.

Jugraj hits out at present system
He was India’s No. 1 drag-flicker when a road accident brought his flying career to a standstill five years back. Jugraj Singh still battles it out to get back to the national team and is miffed for being part of a system that has lapses.

Jugraj, who is representing Punjab Police in the Beighton Cup here, lamented over the fact that the Indian hockey doesn’t have a federation in place at the moment.

“There are few lapses in the system. Things cannot be smooth till we have a federation in place. It was very embarrassing to see India didn’t figure in Olympics,” he said.

He feels hard done by as he was ignored despite his full recovery.