Chinlensana on song

Chennai: K. Chinlensana pumped in four goals as Western Railway booked its spot in the semifinals of the All-India Railway men’s championship with a 5-2 win over Rail Coach Factory here on Tuesday.

Four minutes into the match and the writing was on the wall for Rail Coach Factory (RCF) as Chinlensana had already breached its defence twice.

The first strike came in from the right and the second from a more acute angle on the left.

Praveen Kumar converted a penalty corner for RCF to keep Western within their sights, but Chinlensana struck again, this time from the top of the ‘D’ to restore Western’s two-goal advantage.

Another conversion from a penalty corner by Kangujam Suresh ended the match as a contest.

Paramjit Singh and Ranjodh Singh combined well on the right flank for RCF but where unable to make the most of their chances as Deepak Sharma slid the ball wide when it was easier to score. Chinlensana’s fourth field goal of the match arrived minutes into the second half, underlining his pace and ability to get into dangerous positions.

In the earlier quarterfinal, South East Central Railway progressed to the semifinals thanks to Shadab Khan’s brace which included the all-important golden goal in the 77th minute after the teams were tied at two goals apiece at the end of regulation time.

The results:

SEC Central 3 (Deepak Kishore Ekka, Shadab Khan 2) bt WC 2 (Abhishek Srinivas, Akram Iqbal).

Western 5 (K. Chinlensana 4, Kangujam Suresh) bt RCF 2 (Praveen Kumar 2). — Sports Reporter