Services,Tamilnadu move into knockout stage of National Hockey

Jalandhar, Oct 23 (UNI) Former champions Services and Tamilnadu became the first teams to move into the knockout stage of the quarter final in the Dainik Bhaskar-Tracer 62nd Senior National Hockey Championship being played at four centers in Punjab.

Meanwhile star studded Indian Airlines and another former champion Railways too have strengthened their claims for the knock out stage, recording their third successive victories in their respective Pools.

Services and Tamilnadu completed their league fixtures,with the former thrashing Haryana 8-2 in a Pool-H match, while the latter overcame a stubborn challenge from Bengal to emerge winners 3-1 in a Pool-F match.

In other matches of the day, Indian Airlines hammered Himachal Pradesh 15-0 in a Pool-E encounter while Railways thrashed Andhra Pradesh 7-1 in a Pool-B match.

In another match, Delhi were held to a 1-1 draw against Uttar Pradesh in a Pool-G match.

In the other matches, Pondicherry mauled Andaman and Nicobar islands 17-0 in a Pool-B match, while Jammu and Kashmir kept their hopes alive for a place in the next stage with a 13-3 thrashing of Tripura in a Pool-G match. In another encounter, Mizoram who have been impressive so far, recorded their first victory beating Kerala 4-2 in Pool-H.

At the PAU campus in Ludhiana, Services thrashed Haryana 8-2 after leading 2-1 at the breather. For the winners, D Mahoak scored three goals while Ajay Kumar found the mark on two occasions.

In the second match, Tamilnadu scraped past a fighting Bengal, 3-1, thanks to late strikes by Muthr Selvan,who got two of his teams goals. The winners were 1-0 up at half time through a goal by A Kumar who converted a penalty corner in the 30th minute.

However immediately after resumption, Bengal struck through Edmund Karkabla who converted a penalty corner to draw level at 1-1.

Tamilnadu then struck late in the game through Selvan who converted two penalty corners to make it 4-2.

In the third match at Ludhiana, Mizoram emerged victorious 4-1 against Kerala, after leading 2-0 at half time. For the winners Laldyhawha scored a brace.

MORE UNI HS DH DS1603