[1]Deepak Bijawad scored a brace as Karnataka defeated Delhi 5-3 to top Pool A and set up a semi-final clash with Uttar Pradesh in the Federation Cup men’s hockey tournament in the capital.
The event is being organised by the Indian Hockey Federation.
In the other last-four match, Pool B champions Punjab will clash against Tamil Nadu at the Shivaji Stadium.
In the final set of pool matches played on Friday, Karnataka opened the scoring through Shankar Patil (13th) before Bijawad doubled the lead in the 32nd minute.
Delhi, however, made a strong comeback after the change of ends and scored through Atuldeep (36th) and Pradeep Khatri (52nd) to restore parity. But minutes later, Bijawad came back to score his second goal and put Karnataka ahead before Kusha J.P. (57th) and Biju Yirkal (63rd) handed the southern side a 5-2 lead.
Delhi reduced the margin, courtesy an own goal from Karnataka in the dying minutes of the game.
Meanwhile in an inconsequential match, Haryana came up with a spirited show to get the better of Manipur 5-3.
Earlier, Karnataka and Delhi had reached the quarter-finals after coming from two-goal deficits to overcome Tamil Nadu (4-3) and Mumbai (4-2), in their respective league matches.
Punjab and Uttar Pradesh registered comfortable victories against Manipur and Haryana, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar’s two goals helped Delhi beat Mumbai 4-2 in their group match.
Punjab routed Manipur 22-1 to hand them another huge defeat in two days.
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/1jpg-203