National Mens Hockey Championship: Delhi enters quarter finals

Delhi entered the quarter-finals of the 63rd Rangaswami Cup Senior National Men's Hockey Championship by crushing Jharkhand 4-1 at the Aishbagh Stadium here.

With this, Delhi has become the seventh team to book a berth in the quarter-finals.

The other teams which have already entered the quarter-finals are Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Hosts Madhya Pradesh State Hockey Academy (MPSHA), Bhopal.

The eighth team for the quarter-finals would be decided from SAIL and Orissa after their match this evening.

For Delhi, a brilliant field goal scored by Pradeep Kumar in the fourth minute gave a 1-0 lead to his team yesterday but Suman Tirki of Jharkhand equalised it in the 24th minute through a penalty corner.

Later, Delhi players  swung into action again and converted a penalty corner in the 29th minute through Rocky and took a 2-1 lead till breather.

In the second half, Amit Lochan hit a goal through penalty stroke in the 43rd minute while Praveen put the ball in the net in the 68th minute for Delhi and ensured their teams victory by 4-1.

Till breather, Delhi led 2-1.

In another match, Orissa defeated Uttarakhand 2-1 and retained in the race for the quarter-finals along with SAIL from Pool H.

Despite Uttarakhand taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute through Abdul Masid's brilliant field goal, it did not maintain this for long as Lakra of Orissa equalised it through a field goal in the 16th minute.

Two minutes later, Tirki of Orissa hit another field goal and ensured his team's victory by 2-1.

Till breather, Orissa led 2-1.

In the second half, Uttarakhand tried their best to equalise the score but could not do so.

The other match of day between Pondicherry and Tripura, which have already crashed out from the tournament, ended in a draw as both the teams failed to score any goal in the allotted time.