Bengaluru Cup Hockey 2015: Karnataka XI drub BPCL to remain in contention

Karnataka XI defeated Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited 5-3 in the men’s league matches of the 2^nd Bengaluru Cup hockey tournament organised by Hockey Karnataka at thehockey stadium here on Friday.Karnataka XI have four points from three outings while BPCL lost allthe four matches they played and are out of contention for the final.The top two teams from the league will play the final on Monday.For Karnataka XI, MD Raheel struck three goals (7th, 38th 47^th minutes) while Poonacha MG (13th min) and Thimanna PL (43rd min) scored a goal each. For BPCL, Rajat Sharma (22nd min), Jarnail Singh (48th min) and Gurpreet Singh (PC-51st Min) reduced the margin.Karnataka scored early through a deflection from Raheel beforePoonacha himself struck a field goal for a 2-0 lead by the 13th minutebut Oilmen pulled one back and kept themselves in contention when Rajat Sharma struck following an Amir Khan cross in the 21st minute.However, after the break, Karnataka scored three goals in quicksuccession, in the space of nine minutes to virtually take the stingoff the contest when Raheel scored two more goals and Thimmanna found one in between. Thereafter, BPCL came back with two goals from Jarnail Singh and Gurpreet Singh but it was too little and too late.Karnataka remain in contention for a spot in the final with twomatches to go against IOCL and Army XI. BPCL have a match against ONGC but are out of contention.