Murugappa Hockey Gold Cup: Railways win back-to-back titles, beats IOC 5-3 in final

CHENNAI: Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) failure to capitalise on the final third cost them the championship as they lost 5-3 to defending champion Railways Sports Promotion Board in the final of the 95th edition of the All India MCC - Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament in Chennai on Sunday.

Railways’ captain and former India forward Yuvraj Walmiki scored two goals and was instrumental from the very start, guiding his team across the finish line despite a late surge from IOC.

Seven minutes into the first quarter, Railways capitalised on back-to-back penalty corners (PC), taking an early lead with a goal from Gursahibjit Singh. They doubled their lead shortly after when a pass from Shivam Anand found Simranjot Singh, who slotted the ball home. Manpreet could have pulled one back before the break but failed to convert, leaving Railways with a two-goal lead at the end of the first quarter.

Railways had about eight PCs within the first fifteen minutes of play. At the start of the second quarter, Amit Gowda’s long pass from the middle found Gursahibjit, who assisted Walmiki for his first goal of the evening.

Not long after Railways scored, IOC finally pulled one back thanks to Talwinder Singh. With five minutes left to play, Prashant Chauhan made a crucial save to keep out IOCs Vikramjit Singh.

Minutes later, Prashant made another important save with a goal-line stop on a late penalty corner, but the ball found Gujinder Singh, who scored the second goal for IOC as both teams headed in to the tunnel for halftime.

After the break, IOC earned the first PC of the third quarter, but Ujwal Singh was unable to convert it but a quick counter from Railways caught IOC off guard as Walmiki’s pass found Mukul Sharma, who made the score 4-2.

Aditya Singh came close to adding another for Railways, but his shot from the D box went wide of the post.

In the dying minutes of the match, Railways’ Pradeep Singh’s shot was deflected by goalie Pankaj Rajak, and Walmiki was in the right place to slot it home. IOC responded with a goal from Rajbir Singh, but it was too late, as the final whistle sounded with Railways winning the title 5-3.

Result: RSPB-Railways (RSPB) 5 (Gursahibjit Singh 7, Simranjot Singh 9, Yuvraj Walmiki 18, 58; Mukul Sharma 35) bt India Oil Corporation Ltd 3 (Talwinder Singh 23, Gujinder Singh 29, Rajbir Singh 58)