Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) wouldn’t have envisioned such an early exit from the 94th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India hockey tournament here on Thursday.
The defending champion went down tamely 6-2 to Central Secretariat here on Thursday in a Group-A contest. The defeat meant IOC remained at seven points from four matches. Karnataka (seven points) sneaked into the last four based on a better goal difference (+1) as compared to IOC’s -1.
Earlier, Indian Army (nine points) topped Group-B with an authoritative 6-0 victory over Indian Air Force. Army had a superior goal difference (+9). On the other hand, Punjab National Bank’s (nine points) goal difference was 0 and it ended up second in the group.