Bhopal, Jun 16: In a major upset, favourites Air India and Railways were knocked out of the First National Senior Men's Hockey Championship here today with Karntaka defeating Air India by 2-1 and Jharkhand humbling Railways also by 2-1 in the quarter final matches.
Both Karnataka and Jharkhand have secured a berth in the semi-final while Punjab has already qualified for the penultimate match by defeating Bihar 9-0.
The last quarter final will be played between Haryana and Orissa tonight.
In the second quarter final played at the Aishbagh Stadium, when both Karnataka and Air India remained at 1-1 till the end of the play, the referee gave additional time for getting result in the match.
In the 75th minute, Karntaka's V Raghunath hit a golden goal to ensure his team's place in the semi-finals defeating the mighty Air India.
For Air India, Vikram Pillai converted a penalty stroke in the 31st minute to take an early lead in the match.
In the third Quarter Final, Jharkhand defeated Railways by 2-1 to secure a berth in the semi final.
Jharkhand's Ajitesh Rai converted a penalty corner into a goal in the 17th minute to take a lead in the match.
But Railways Sanjay Bir scored a beautiful field goal in the 32nd minute to level the score. Till half-time, both the teams remained at 1-1.
In the 60th minute, Jharkhand's Jitesh Toppo showed his might by scoring a field goal to humble Railways by 2-1 and to secure his team's place in the semifinal. PTI
