Air India, ONGC in final

Air India will face ONGC in the final of the Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament being played at the National Stadium.

Air India will face ONGC in the final of the Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament being played at the National Stadium. In the semifinals played on Friday, Air India outplayed Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) 3-1, while ONGC edge past BPCL 4-3.

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Air India owed their final berth to goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza who did a commendable job under the bar. He put his vast international experience to optimum use to deny IOC forwards the leeway on several occasions.

IOC dominated a major part of the second session, but Air India didn't let scoring opportunity slip from their hands in the closing stages. Sameer Dad converted a penalty-corner in the 54th minute to give Air India a 2-1 lead. Five minutes later, Joga Singh made it 3-1 to increase the margin of victory.