Karnataka, Punjab in semifinal

Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN

BHOPAL: Eventually, it was more of a match that Air India lost rather than their opponents Karnataka XI won. After surging ahead through a penalty stroke, Air India not only squandered the lead but conceded a golden goal to lose the quarterfinal tie in the Hockey India-organized inaugural Senior National hockey championship for men.

In the semifinal on Friday, Karnataka will meet Punjab, who routed Bihar 9-0 in the first quarterfinal. The second semifinal will be contested between Jharkhand and Haryana.

Air India, though, have only themselves to blame. Their performance was far below that of a champion team that has had a brilliant run this season. They made a mess of simple things such as receiving and passing. That they missed sitters in the rival D is another story. Karnataka on the other hand were as disoriented as their rivals. So, the quarterfinal match-up, termed a big-ticket affair, turned out to be a damp squib.

The only high point of the match was the pressure applied by the dangerous Karnataka XI duo of Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh. Though initially they went unnoticed, they combined brilliantly in the last fifteen minutes to rattle the brittle Air India defense.

Thakur earned Karnataka XI a short corner in the 61st minute and drag-flicker Raghuprasad found the top corner of the net, to take the match into extra time that was eventually decided by a golden goal. Raghuprasad again found the target successfully in the 75th minute to seal it for Karnataka XI.

“We applied pressure in the last fifteen minutes or so and they succumbed,” Prabhjot Singh told TOI after his team’s triumph.

Air India coach and Olympian Gavin Fereria felt his team could have sealed the match in the first half itself. “According to my assessment, we should have been up by at least four goals by the half-time. But we missed sitters and that too against a team like Karnataka XI,” Fereria said.

Results (quarterfinals): Punjab 9 (Manpreet 2, Prabhdeep 3, Satbi 1, Sarvanjit 1, Ranjodh 1, Harpreet 1) bt Bihar 0; Karnataka XI 2 (Raghuprasad 2) bt Air India 1 (Vikram Pillay 1) via golden goal; Jharkhand 2 (Ajitesh Roy 1, Bikesh Toppo 1) bt Railways 1 (Sanjay Bir 1). Haryana 3 (Sandeep Singh 2, Gurmail Singh 1) bt Orissa 2 (Amit Rohitdas 1, Stanli Victor Minz 1) via golden goal.

Shiv’s injury not serious

Star Air India and India striker Shivendra Singh was rushed to hospital after sustaining an injury to his collar bone. Initially, it appeared that it was a fracture but later it was confirmed that it was a muscle injury. So, the speculations that Shivendra would have to miss out on the India’s Olympic Qualifiers because of the injury sustained were put to rest. According to organisers, Shivendra could be back in action inside a couple of weeks.