Two time finalist Haryana was knocked out of the competition after a 2-3 loss to Punjab in the quarterfinals of the 15th men’s hockey national championships Division A here on Saturday.
Two goals in as many minutes by Punjab, including a penalty stroke by Jugraj Singh, helped it take a 3-1 lead soon after resumption of play in the 3rd quarter and even though Haryana pulled one back towards the end, it was too little too late. Punjab will now take on Uttar Pradesh in the semifinals after the latter came from a goal down to beat Karnataka 3-1 in the last match of the day.
Also advancing to the last four was Madhya Pradesh with a 4-2 win over Maharashtra in the shootouts after the teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time, both goals coming inside the first ten minutes of play. It will play Manipur who beat Tamil Nadu 4-1 in SO after a goalless 60 minutes, Karthi Selvam the lone scorer for Tamil Nadu, who also missed a stroke.
Earlier, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh earned promotion to Division B of the championships by topping the table in Division C while Mizoram and Andhra Pradesh were relegated from Division B to C. The table toppers in Division B – Chandigarh and Delhi – were promoted to the top-tier Division A and will replace the bottom two teams from Division A.
The results (quarterfinals): Manipur 0 bt Tamil Nadu 0 in SO; Madhya Pradesh 1 (Pratap Lakra 6) bt Maharashtra 1 (Aakib Rahim 9) in SO; Punjab 3 (Araijeet Singh Hundal 15, Jugraj Singh 33, Pardeep Singh 34) bt Haryana 2 (Sanjay 32, Kuldeep 56); Uttar Pradesh 3 (Manish Yadav 45, Pawan Rajbhar 52, Shardanand Tiwari 59) bt Karnataka 1 (Rahul CJ 24).
Sunday’s semifinals: MP vs Manipur (5 pm), Punjab vs UP (7 pm).
Published – April 12, 2025 09:21 pm IST
