Dynamos join Hi-Fliers in semis

Chandigarh, Dec 30 (UNI) Playing before the holiday home crowd, Chandigarh Dynamos joined Bangalore Hi-Fliers in the semi-final by eking out a narrow 1-0 victory over Maratha Warriors in the 16 th match of the Premier Hockey League being played here today.

The all-important goal was scored by Sher Singh in the 26th minute which gave Dynamos three points.

Lying at the second position with 12 points, Chandigarh Dynamos have a chance to top the seven-team league table as they meet bottom-placed Chennai Veerans in their last league fixture. An outright victory against Chennai will elevate Chandigarh Dynamos to the leaders position with 15 points, one more than Bangalore Hi-Fliers who completed their league programme by defeating Sher-e-Jalandhar by 2-1 in the 15 th match played today.

After today's matches, Bangalore Hi-Fliers were leading with 14 points. Orissa Steelers (8 pts) and Maratha Warriros (7) are the other teams which will fill the remaining two semi-final slots.

Shers and Hyderabad Sultans have identical points tally to five Commenting on his boys performance in today's match, coach Narinder Singh Sodhi said, "they are capable of playing much better game. I am sure that they would much more improved play in the next matches. It will be a different game in semi-finals where all teams would be equal and matching." Chandigarh Dynamos and Maratha Warriors were evenly matched. Both teams are star-studded. Chandigarh Dynamos have the best forward line which included Olympians Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Thakur supported by captain Rajpal Singh, Ravi Pal Singh, Inderjit Chadha.

Maratha Warriors were awarded penalty corners in the 8th, 37th, 38th and 49 th minutes. However, they failed to take advantage of these half chances.

Surprisingly, Chandigarh Dynamos could not force even a single PC. Sher Singh snatched the match-winner in the 26th minute as he connected a pass given by his captain Rajpal Singh from the left flank. Dynamos dominated the second half and initiated a number of moves but another goal eluded them.

Rajpal Singh was adjudged the man of the match.

UNI