Thaindian News

Bhopal, June 16 (IANS) Drag-flicker V.R. Raghunath’s golden goal took Karnataka past Air India 2-1 and into the semi-finals of the senior national hockey championship here Thursday.

Vikram Pillay converted a penalty stroke in the 31st minute to give Air India the lead in front of a sparse but enthusiastic crowd at the Aisbagh Stadium.

Karnataka, riding on Raghunath’s brilliance, levelled in the 61st minute. He scored from a penalty corner. He struck again in the extra time — in the 75th minute — to take his tally in the tournament to nine goals, all from penalty-corner conversions.

In the semifinal, Karnataka will meet Punjab, who crushed Bihar 9-0 in the first quarterfinal in the morning.

Jharkhand too stormed into the semifinal beating Railways 2-1.

Ajithesh Roy converted a penalty corner in the first half and Railways levelled through Sanjay Bir in the second. Jharkhand’s Bikesh Toppo then scored the winner with a fantastic acrobatic reverse flick.

They will play the winner of the fourth quarterfinal between Orissa and Haryana.

Karnataka goalkeeper Bharat Chetri also played an important part bringing off a series of good saves.

Apart from Chetri and Raghunath’s performance, Karnataka was largely unimpressive, especially in the first half where Air India had the lion’s share of ball possession.

Karnataka players could not get their basics like trapping right. Their poor work robbed Raghunath of scoring opportunities as they failed to trap properly from penalty corners. They had six in all.

If Karnataka was lacklustre, Air India too looked rusty. The match billed as a big clash fell short of expectations.

Air India were unlucky as livewire forward Shivender Singh, whose deflection was stopped by Chetri at the start, hurt his shoulder in the first half and had to be benched.

The two teams were cautious at the start. Air India were the better team as they made good moves and kept the Karnataka defence under pressure.

Air India won a penalty corner when Yuvaraj Walmiki was brought down by Karnataka’s Irshad Ali near the goalmouth.

Pillay scored from the spot even though Karnataka goalkeeper Chetri made a good attempt.

Karnataka’s best chance came in the second half when Deepak Thakur skilfully dribbled past a circle of defenders to put S.K. Uthappa in position but the latter hit the post.

Karnataka got a few more opportunities, but all were lost due to poor finishing before Raghunath came to the team’s rescue with the third penalty corner.

“We did not play well. There are lot of things we need to work on before the next match. In the second half we put up a better performance. Raghunath has been brilliant in the tournament,” Karnataka coach B.J. Kariappa told IANS.

Earlier, Punjab crushed Bihar 9-0 to move into the semifinal.

Prabhdeep Singh slammed three goals, Manpreet Singh two while Satbir Singh, Sarvanjit Singh, Ranjodh Singh and Harpreet Singh scored goals apiece.

It turned out to be a lopsided contest as the strong Punjab outfit dictated terms against the young Bihar side.

Bihar kept the rampaging Punjab in check for the first 23 minutes before Manpreet opened the floodgates with his side’s first of two penalty-corner conversions.

Punjab struck three goals within six minutes and finished the first half 4-0. They continued in the same vein in the second half and the hapless Bihar merely watched goal after goal being scored.