Karnataka beat Bihar in final of B Division national hockey

Karnataka overcame Bihar 5-4 in the final of the 8th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship (B Division), while Coorg defeated Andhra 4-3 in the 3rd/4th classification match here on Sunday.

With the win, Karnataka earned promotion to the A Division. Karnataka took an early lead in the fifth minute through Pavan Madiwalar. But Bihar equalised three minutes later with a strike from Sachin Dungdung.

Bihar then took the lead in the 10th minute through Johnson Purty but Karnataka pulled level in the 13th minute through C.S. Shamanth.

The two teams played well in the opening half and scored a goal each as Madiwalar (27th minute) scored his second goal, while Bihar's skipper Anand Kumar Bara scored in the 35th minute.

Bihar made it 4-3 lead after 46 minutes through Sanchit Horo's goal but Karnataka struck back in the final 11 minutes to score twice through B.N. Chelsea Medappa (59th) and Pavan Madiwalar (65th) and seal the victory.

In the other match, Coorg went into the half-time break with a 2-1 lead as MP Ashik Uthappa (sixth) and F. Noel Robinson (15th) scored for them while Siva Boya (10th) scored the goal for Andhra.

The second half saw both teams score two goals each which meant that Coorg won the match 4-3.

Robinson got his second goal in the 41st, while skipper B. Yathish Kumar (66th) scored for Coorg.

Loknath Uravakonda (61st) and Jaswanth Kumar Yamala (68th) scored for Andhra.

--IANS

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