Punjab booked their berth in the last-eight stage while their northern neighbours Chandigarh kept their hopes alive as both teams recorded victories in the Hockey India 2nd Senior National Hockey Championships on Thursday.
Punjab were up against Services, who needed only a draw, and won 7-2 in Pool C at the KSHA Stadium while Chandigarh downed Goa 14-2 in Pool D at the MEG grounds.
Gurjinder Singh and Akashdeep Singh scored three goals each for Punjab to put them on the road to their second win in the three-team pool. The match was twice interrupted by rains and Services failed to make any impression despite Lovepreet Singh and Sanwar Ali scoring.
Services, who finished with three points, had their chances while Punjab went on to dominate much of the match. Gurjinder put Punjab ahead with a 9th minute penalty- corner conversion only to see Services equalise as Lovepreet diverted in a cross from Mukesh Lakra. After the change of ends, Punjab were lucky to get their second goal after Gurjinder’s attempt from a 43rd minute penalty corner trickled over the goal-line off goalkeeper P T Rao’s pads and the stick of defender Rajesh Lakra whose robust tackle had resulted in the award.
Services caught up a second time when Sanwar Ali found the mark from a penalty corner in the 54th before the floodgates opened as Akashdeep (58th, 66th, 70th), Gurjinder (62nd) and Satbir Singh (69th) struck for Punjab. Chandigarh kept their hopes alive with a second win in three pool D outings, defeating Goa 14-2 while Jharkhand downed Uttarakhand 7-1 for their second success in as many matches.
Meanwhile, Hockey Karnataka has decided to present a Tata Nano car to the best defender, best forward and best player in the ongoing senior nationals. The three award winners will be selected by a panel comprising Olympians M M Somaya, N Mukesh Kumar and Dilip Tirkey.