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Karnataka XI through, despite defeat

MUMBAI APRIL 23. Karnataka XI experienced the lows and highs, eventually ending up with a semifinal berth in the 41st Bombay Gold Cup hockey championship despite an expected 2-1 quarterfinal league defeat at the hands of mighty Indian Oil on Wednesday.

The joy of having advanced as the second team from Pool A will have to tempered by the stark reality of lack of penetration in the forwardline, compounded by a missed penalty stroke on a day when every goal was invaluable.

Bhopal XI, another state outfit in contention for qualification, continued its downhill course with a 0-3 loss to Central Industrial Security Force.

Indian Oil is a late starter, but takes no prisoner. Assured of a place in the double-leg semifinal as the only unbeaten side, it went about dismantling the Karnataka XI roadblocks systematically. Prabhjot Singh, Inderjeet Singh and skipper Deepak Thakur combined upfront, while new induction Khushmeet Singh and the huge Bikramjit Singh teamed up in the defence to dampen Karnataka ambitions at the Mahindra stadium.

Prabhjot, treating the rival half as his turf, got Indian Oil into the scoring mood with a 13th minute goal, hitting in after an Inderjeet diagonal pass found Sunil Yadav relaying the ball within range of the striker.

He combined with Bikramjit for the third (42nd minute), positioning himself for the drag flicker's pass during a short corner, followed by a prompt crack at the boards. In between these two Prabhjot strikes, Karnataka's Ajay Ayappa beat Devesh Chauhan for a 20th minute equaliser, but more goals from this attacking state unit dissipated after monotonous raids produced no breakthroughs nor even short corners, against one out of three corners conversions by Indian Oil.

Karnataka's penalty stroke miss, Arun Rawat pushing into custodian Chauhan's body after the ball hit a defender in a melee, will only add to the negatives which need to be eliminated as the tournament enters the knockout phase.

The Pool A leader finished with maximum nine points, followed by Karnataka with four. Bhopal XI ran out of breath in the second quarterfinal league match against hard-working CISF, for whom skipper Cyril Ekka emerged the match-winner with a hat-trick, a penalty stroke goal (25th) followed by two in the field (33rd, 59th).

The results: Indian Oil 2 (Prabhjot Singh 2) bt Karnataka XI 1 (Ajay Ayappa). CISF 3 (Cyril Ekka hat-trick) bt Bhopal XI 0 (Pool A quarterfinal league).

Thursday's matches: Sikh Regiment Centre, New Delhi vs Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, Jalandhar; Indian Airlines, Mumbai vs Western Railway, Mumbai (Pool B quarterfinal league).

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