Chennai, Oct 2 (IANS) Defending champions Air India went down 1-5 against an inspired ONGC in their opening Pool A match of the 85th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here Friday.
Earlier, in a Pool B encounter Army XI edged past Indian Railways 2-1 to pick up full points, and in the day’s last game, Indian Oil Corporation, thanks to two goals apiece by former India players Didar Singh and Deepak Thakur, overcame Mumbai XI 6-3, also in Pool B.

Air India’s debacle was a bit of a shocker considering their line-up of many international players, including former India captain Prabodh Tirkey, Bimal Lakra and VS Vinaya. Their defence committed far too many mistakes in the second half, during which ONGC scored all their goals.

Former India forward Sameer Dad, who showed flashes of his old brilliance, put Air India ahead in the very third minute with a field goal, but ONGC kept their nerves to eventually run out convincing winners.

ONGC gained momentum on resumption as Karamjeet Singh swept home a pass from Mandeep Singh in the 37th minute to open the floodgates.

Five minutes later, Vinaya committed a foot infringement while trying to stop a goalbound ball and Diwakar Ram converted the resultant penalty stroke to put ONGC ahead 2-1.

Thereafter, the tide turned ONGC’s way as Diwakar Ram (46th), Amarjeet Singh (59th) and Jagwant (69th) scored at will even as Air India turned despondent and listless.

In the day’s first match that was a routine up-and-down affair, goals by Rajesh Kumar (9th) and Armugam (44th) paved the way for Army XI’s win against the youthful Railways for whom Prem Kumar (39th) scored the lone goal.

IOC were off to a flier against Mumbai XI when Hamza Mujtaba struck in the fifth minute following a mix-up in the defence. But Mumbai hit back with an equalizer from Shashi Topno who followed up on a rebound after goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan blocked an attempt by Muthanna Kuttappa. Soon after, Indian Oil went into the lead as Gursev Singh scored from a penalty corner.

It was a wake-up call for the fancied IOC who breathed a sigh of relief as former India star Deepak Thakur flicked home from close after Kamlesh Parihar cut through and passed to tie the scores 2-2 at half-time.

Immediately on resumption, Didar Singh converted two penalty corners in quick succession (38th, 40th) to give IOC a 4-2 advantage and past the 56th, Thakur slammed in a pass from Inderjit Chadda who cut through on his own and pushed the ball back from the goal-line to wrong foot the defenders.

Nine minutes from close, Mumbai pulled one back as Tyron Pereira capped a fine run by Shashi Topno with a diving deflection, but Bikramjit Singh converted a penalty penalty corner in the 66th for IOC’s sixth goal.