Maintaining their fine run, Punjab Police emerged Pool H winners and deservingly booked a place in the semi-finals league of the 45th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament in Mumbai on Monday.
Punjab Police held off a determined challenge from Tamil Nadu XI before scoring a solitary goal victory to keep their all-win record intact.
In their final quarter-final league match, where a draw would have been enough to progress, Punjab Police picked maximum points, courtesy Amit Singh's effort from a penalty- corner in the 16th minute.
Meanwhile, it was ONGC who progressed from Pool I after they recorded a hard-fought 2-1 victory over South Central Railway (Secunderabad) in a morning match.
Defender Anurag Raghuvanshi and Jagwant Singh netted for ONGC, while Mayur Subbaiah struck for the railway team, who were on even terms at one stage.
It was very crucial result for ONGC (six points) who not only ended up with the same number of points as SCR, but also had the same goal difference of plus four.
As the goals scored by these two teams were the same, it was the head-to-head result that saw ONGC come through at the end.
The line-up for the semi-final league stage was completed, with former champions Air India and Border Security Force, Jalandhar, making the grade.
In an afternoon session match, Air India recovered superbly to play out a 2-2 draw with Army Green, while in the final match of the day, Karnataka XI defeated BSF 4-3.
Despite the defeat, BSF (6 points) progressed after edging out Western Railway on the basis of superior goal difference.
