Hockey: Haryana, MP Academy in final

Expectedly, Haryana and MP Academy entered the women's final defeating Western Railway 3-1 and Karnataka XI 2-0, respectively, in the Hockey Karnataka's All-India tournament here Wednesday.

Haryana recorded their fourth win in the six-team competition while MP Academy took their tally to 10 points. Haryana and MP Academy will play Thursday to decide the top two positions in the league.

In the men's competition, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd beat Karnataka XI 5-1, a result that left Air India second with six points, behind leaders Indian Oil (9) with Army XI (4) third. Army XI face IOCL Thursday needing a victory to qualify for Friday's final.

BPCL, for whom Amir Khan (2), Gupreet Singh, Jagath and Tushar Khandekar scored, finished with four points while Karnataka XI, with Kusha KP netting their only goal, ended up at the bottom of the league table with three points.

Earlier, the Karnataka girls, playing their last league match, had their chances, but their forwards committed far too many errors in the striking zone in contrast to MP Academy who capitalised on the two good opportunities that came their way to score through Ramngaihzuali (10th) and Manmeet Kaur (42nd).

Haryana put in another strong performance with Monika Dahiya, Jyoti Gupta and Neha scoring a goal apiece. Western Railway's lone goal came in the 65th minute through Jaswinder Kaur.

The results:

Men: BPCL 5 (Amir Khan 31, 39, Gurpreet Singh 33, Jagath 63, Tushar Khandekar 69) beat Karnataka XI 1 (Kusha KP 41).

Women: Haryana 3 (Monika Dahiya 7, Jyoti Gupta 48, Neha 61) beat Western Railway 1 (Jaswinder Kaur 65).

MP Academy 2 (Ramngaihzuali 10th, Manmeet Kaur 42nd) beat Karnataka XI 0.

Central Railway 14 (Vandhana Katariya 14, 16, 32, 54, 61, 68, Soundarya Yendala 13, 18, 35, 48, Jamila Bano 27, 38, Ritushah Arya 28, Ponnamma Mallamada 44) beat Tamil Nadu XI 0.