Jalandhar: Spirited Namdhari XI and Air India entered the semi finals of the 28th Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here on Thursday. Namdhari XI beat Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Dehradun 4-1 whereas Air India got the better of Punjab & Sind Bank 2-1.

In the first semi finals, Namdhari XI will take on Air India, where as holders Indian Oil will take on Bharat Petroleum in second semi finals.

In Pool B's last league match, Namdhari XI boys combined well from the word go and took lead in the 35th minute of the play when Manjinder Singh netted the ball from penalty corner (1-0). In the second half, Namdhari’s controlled the game and in the 52nd minute, Sukhchain Singh scored a field goal to consolidate the margin (2-0). Ten minutes later, Gurpreet Singh increaded the lead to 3-0 through a field goal and Lakhwinder Singh made it 4-0 in the 66th minute. However, in the 69th minute ONGC were able to reduce the margin, when Diwakar Ram converted the penalty corner (1-4).

In the Pool D between Air India Mumbai and Punjab & Sind Bank, Air India took lead in the 14th minute of the play when Rahul Shilpkar converted the penalty corner for his team (1-0). In the 33rd minute of the play, Vikramjit Singh equalized with the penalty corner conversion (1-1), but three minutes later, Air India once again took the lead with penalty corner conversion by skipper Sameer Dad (2-1). Air India finally won 2-1.

PTC Channel will telecast live both the semi finals from 5:15 PM.

Semi Finals
Namdhari XI V/s Air India - 5:15 PM
IndianOil V/s Bharat Petroleum - 7:00 PM