Mumbai rode on Bikas Toppo’s brace to hold Karnataka to a 2-2 draw in a Pool ‘A’ match of the Alchemist Federation Cup at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
In other matches, Uttar Pradesh crushed Manipur 17-1, Punjab trounced Haryana 7-2 and Tamil Nadu outclassed Delhi 7-3.
Mohammad Naeemuddin and Deepak Beijawad scored a goal apiece as Karnataka twice took the lead.
However, Toppo struck back with a goal in each half as both teams shared points.
Led by a spirited Vinod Rayer, who scored two fine goals, Tamil Nadu comprehensively defeated Delhi to record its second consecutive victory.
Tamil Nadu made the most of Delhi’s defensive lapses in the middle phase and enjoyed a 7-1 lead at one point of time.
Delhi, which messed up a few chances, woke up late to pump in two goals in the last eight minutes and reduce the margin.
The results:
Pool A: Mumbai 2 (Bikas Toppo 2) drew with Karnataka 2 (Mohd. Naeemuddin, Deepak Beijawad).
Tamil Nadu 7 (Vinod Rayer 2, Stalin David, Rafeeq, Adam Sinclair, Albert, Sathya) bt Delhi 3 (Rahul Singh, Ashok Kumar, Faraz Khan).
Pool B: Uttar Pradesh 17 (Farooqh 5, Diwakar Ram 5, Jagwant Singh 4, Deepak Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Pramod Kumar) bt Manipur 1 (K. Debeshor).
Punjab 7 (Ajit Pandit 3, Ajay Kumar, Rajin Kandulna, Parvinder Singh, Gurjant Singh) bt Haryana 2 (Amrit Chatha, Pravesh). — Principal Correspondent
