Airlines rout Karnataka 4-1, Air India hold Indian Rlys

Chennai, Dec 18 (UNI) Packed with former and present internationals, formidable Indian Airlines routed Karnataka 4-1 to start their campaign on a rousing note, while Air India and Indian Railways shared the honours playing a 1-1 draw in the 83rd All India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey tournament here today.

A three-goal blitz by centre-forward Sameer Dad and right winger Ravinder Singh's fine finish put paid to the hopes of Karnataka, for whom defender Adarsh Ganapathy scored the only goal off a penalty corner three minutes from time.

Karnataka suffered their second successive loss in the three-team group and crashed out of contention. They had lost to Army XI 2-3 in their opening encounter yesterday.

Earlier, Indian Railways forged ahead in the 34th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Prem Kumar and Air India restored parity seven minutes into the second half when skipper Len Aiyappa scored off a rebound, off another penalty corner.

Both the teams pressed hard, but the winning goal eluded them and ended up sharing the honours.

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