Karnataka beat HP; Haryana, AI in quarterfinals

BANGALORE: Karnataka drubbed Himachal Pradesh 5-0 to make a winning start to their campaign in the 2nd Hockey India Senior National Championship at the Hockey stadium on Tuesday.

The scoreline does not fully reflect Karnataka’s dominance which was studded by goals from SK Uthappa (4th minute), Nitin Thimmaiah (34th), VR Raghunath (40th), Mohan Muthanna (56th) and MB Aiyappa (62nd). The margin would have been higher had the hosts capitalized on the chances they created.

In other action, defending champions Haryana downed Puducherry 3-1 for their third straight win in Pool A and move into the quarterfinals. Also moving in were Air India from Pool E and Tamil Nadu from Pool G.

Himachal Pradesh were slow and ponderous throughout. Although they made a few penetrations their poor finishing let them down. Their best chance came in the 55th minute when Amit Lochab hit a powerful drive only to be disallowed by the umpire for dangerous play.

Results

Pool A: Haryana 3 bt Puducherry 1; Maharashtra: 3 bt Bengal: 1 (Adesh Valmiki 62); Pool B: Karnataka: 5 bt Himachal Pradesh; Kashmir w/o Arunachal Pradesh; Andhra Pradesh 5 bt Delhi 2; Pool C: Services 16 bt Chhattisgarh 0; Pool D: Uttarakhand 3 bt Goa: 0; Chandigarh: 5 bt Sashastra Seema Bal: 1; Pool E: Air India: 16 bt Nagaland: 0; Madhya Pradesh: 11 bt Rajasthan: 0; Pool G: Tamil Nadu 16 bt Kerala 1 (E Sarin 57).