New Indian Express: Coorg secures quarterfinal berth at Hockey Nationals

Imphal, Jan 15 (PTI) MB Cariappa struck twice as Hockey Coorg notched up a 3-1 win over Bengal Hockey Association to secure a spot in the quarterfinal of the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship here today.

In a Pool H match, Hockey Coorg took their chances and drew the first blood as early as in the 4th minute with Cariappa converting a penalty corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.

However, Bengal Hockey Association scored the equalizer three minutes later through their skipper Shariq Mohammad. But Hockey Coorg stuck to their tasks and scored two more goals to secure the victory in the third quarter.

It was K N Rohan Thimmaiah (35th) and Cariappa (43rd) who scored the two goals.

In the opening match of the day, Punjab National Bank secured their quarterfinal berth after winning their third consecutive match in Pool F with a 8-1 thrashing of Hockey Himachal.

The win meant Punjab will go into the quarterfinal with three wins out of three matches, finishing with a tally of nine points.

In another Pool F match, D Sarang pumped in as many as five goals to help Kerala Hockey notch up their first win in the competition, beating Hockey Madhya Bharat 9-4.

In Pool G, Valantine Das scored four goals as Major Port Sports Control Board spanked Hockey Rajasthan 10-1 to register their first victory of the competition.

Both teams failed to qualify for the quarterfinal as Major Port Sports Control Board had a tally of four points and Hockey Rajasthan could only accumulate a point.

In the last match of Pool H, Hockey Uttarakhand beat Hockey Jammu & Kashmir 2-0 in what was a dead rubber as both teams had failed to register a win in their respective two matches of the tournament.