Punjab and Sind Bank affirmed their supremacy with a 7-2 drubbing of Railways while Indian Airlines recorded a comfortable 4-1 victory over Namdhari XI to sail into the quarter-finals in the 40th ONGC-Nehru Hockey tournament in Delhi on Friday.
The bankmen, who merely required a draw today to move into the knock-out stage, went on the offensive from the word go and were sitting pretty with a 4-0 lead at half-time.
After the break, Railways looked like putting up a fight as they struck in the second minute through a brilliant field goal by Savinder Singh. But there was nothing to stop the rampaging PSB forwards as they continued to attack relentlessly and scored thrice in the bargain.
Kulwinder Singh (34th, 40th minutes), Jatinder Singh (32nd, 70th), Parminder Singh (9th), Sharanjit Singh (15th) and Baljit Chandi (63rd) scored for PSB while Savinder Singh (37th, 67th) scored for Railways.
In another one-sided encounter, star-studded Indian Airlines thrashed Namdhari XI 4-1 to book a date with BSF, Jalandhar, in the last eight.
Indian Airlines, who have players like Dhanraj Pillay, Arjun Halappa and Sameer Dad in its ranks, concentrated on ball possession, forcing their opponents to move out before launching an offensive.
The airmen took the lead in the 18th minute when Dad connected a well-directed pass from Pillay.
Mukesh Kumar extended the lead in the 25th minute when he flicked home a rebound off the Namdhari custodian and Halappa netted yet another in the 31st minute to have 3-0 cushion at the break.
The second half was a dull affair with both teams playing a below par hockey and managing to score a goal each after missing a number of chances.
Meanwhile, Bharat Petroleum became the second team to qualify for the knock-out stage with a 3-2 win over EME Jalandhar.
Len Ayappa scored all the three goals for the winners in the 14th, 23rd and 41st minutes, maintaining a cent per cent conversion record from penalty-corners.
For EME, Avtar Singh converted the team's fourth penalty in the 30th minute while Rajinder Singh scored the second in the 67th minute.
Quarter-final line-up: Air India vs Tamil Nadu XI; Indian Airlines vs BSF, Jalandhar; Punjab Police vs Indian Oil; Punjab and Sind Bank vs Bharat Petroleum.
