By Admin 
Last year’s finalist Railways Sports Promotion Board and Indian Navy set up the title clash at the SNBP 61st Nehru hockey tournament, winning their respective semifinals at the Shivaji Stadium. While RSPB beat Indian Air Force 3-0, Navy dominated for an easy 3-1 win against defending champion Petroleum Sports Promotion Board in the day’s other match.
Navy was in complete control of the game all through and barely allowed PSPB, with a handful of former Indian stars, a shot at goal till the very end. In fact, the lone goal for PSPB came off its only penalty corner in the final seconds of the game. At the other end Navy, after a cautious first quarter, got one in each of the next three to stamp their authority to make their third final of the season and would be hoping to finally get a title under their belt.
Earlier, RSPB too had little trouble against an erratic IAF that saw them miss six PCs and a stroke even as gaps in their defence allowed RSPB forwards to constantly take shots at the goal, going ahead in the 5th minute itself.
The results (semifinals): RSPB 3 (Gursahibjit Singh, Pratap Lakra, Ravi) bt IAF 0; Indian Navy 3 (Kuldeep, Sushil Dhanwar, K. Selvaraj) bt PSPB 1 (Dipsan Tirkey).