Despite putting up a spirited performance, Punjab Police lost to Indian Overseas Bank 1-2 in the 81st All India MCC Murugappa hockey tournament in Chennai on Monday evening.
In the last league match of the tournament, former champions Indian Railways beat Mumbai XI 3-1.
Punjab Police enjoyed the territorial advantage throughout the game and had six penalty-corners against none by the bankmen. But IOB custodian Shanmughasundaram and their defence line did a wonderful job and thwarted all attempts.
IOB went into the lead in the 17th minute through K S Appana and then D Felix made it 2-0.
Punjab Police reduced the margin through Gabbar Singh.
The policemen pressed hard and managed to obtain four penalty-corners in the last 15 minutes, but failed to convert any.
Punjab police almost scored five minutes before the hooter but Sasikaran came up with a superb goal line save.
In the Railways-Mumbai match, Vijay Alphonso (two) and Sonu were the scorers for Railways, while Gurmeet S Rao netted for Mumbai.
In the quarter-finals tomorrow, Indian Hockey Federation Juniors will take on Tamil Nadu while Bhopal XI will play Air India.
On Wednesday, Railways will clash with IOB, while Army Service Corps will take on Karnataka.
