Haryana power into last eight

Defending champions Haryana have confirmed their quarterfinal berth from Pool A in the second Hockey India Senior National Championship here. On Wednesday, they drew with Maharashtra 2-2 while they had wins in their previous three encounters in Pool A.

Indian players Bharat Chikkara and Sardar Singh struck for Haryana while Narad Bahadur and Irshad Mirza scored for Maharashtra.

It was an easy day for hosts Karnataka as they thrashed Mizoram 21-0 in Pool B. The lop-sided match saw the host side holding possession virtually all through the match. The Karnataka team walked into the rival striking circle at will and made merry.

In Pool C, Services thrashed Jammu and Kashmir 18-0 on Wednesday. Punjab were scheduled to play Arunachal Pradesh but the latter team has not turned up. Thus, the quarterfinalist from this group depends on the outcome of the Services-Punjab match on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh, also from Pool C, have been thrown out of the championship as four of their players were involved in a drunken brawl at around midnight on Monday. The team was sent home on Tuesday night and its match results annulled. Their rivals have all been given wins and five goals each. Hockey Karnataka officials said that a full report would be sent to Hockey India.

Results:  Pool A: Haryana 2 (Bharat Chikkara 17th, Sardar Singh 58th) drew with Maharashtra 2 (Narad Bahadur 25th, Irshad Mirza 48th); Bhopal 6 (Irfan 7th, Faisal Hassan 32nd, 42nd, Affan Yousuf 46th, 56th, Imran Yousuf 61st) bt Pondicherry 2 (Kartikeyan 5th, Harikrishnan 69th)

Pool B: Karnataka 21 (Own Goal 3rd, SK Uthappa 4th, 51st, 53rd, Mohan Muthanna 21st, 28th, 54th, 61st, 64th, MK Muddappa 25th, 30th, 39th, 49th, 56th, 59th, 63rd, Somanna KM 33rd, 66th, PL Thimmanna 39th, MB Aiyappa 60th, Nikin Thimmaiah 65th) bt Mizoram 0; Delhi 5 (Avtar Singh Mann 4th, Pawan Singh Chouhan 31st, 49th, Abhishek 33rd, Mohit 43rd) bt Himachal Pradesh 3 (Rajesh Kumar 25th, Sarbjit Singh 55th, Balaram Kumar 65th)
Pool C: Services 18 (Sanwar Ali 4th, 8th, 39th, Arumugam 7th, Muthanna Pradhan 14th, 16th, 63rd, Lovepreet Singh 25th, 30th, 40th, Sunil Somwarpet 26th, 42nd, Bharat Singh 31st, 35th, 59th, Sairajalira 45th, 52nd, 62nd) bt J&K 0
Pool D: Sashastra Seema Bal 14 (Kishore Lakmira 4th, 20th, 15th, 27th, Ajit Singh 14th, 51st, Joychandra Singh 23rd, Pradeep Kumar Singh 35th, 53rd, 69th, Surchandra Singh 39th, L Suresh Singh 41st, Noacha Singh 42nd, Romi Kumar Singh 44th) bt Goa 0; Jharkhand 2 (Anil Xaxa 29th, Birendra Lakra 43rd) bt Chandigarh 1 (Harmanpreet Singh 22nd).

Pool H: Manipur 16 (Jayant Kumar 1st, 2nd, 45th, 60th, Romen Singh 7th, 68th, Hera Singh 10th, Chittranjan Singh 20th, 61st, 69th, Ganbama 25th, 53rd, Amarjit Singh 37th, Kiran Kumar Singh 44th, Abung Singh 54th, Dayanand Singh 58th) bt Andaman & Nicobar 0; Bihar 1 (Md Riazuddin 27th) drew with Combined Universities 1 (Gurpreet Singh)

Pool F: Railways 21 (Sanjay Bir Singh 4th, 34th, 44th, 51st, 52nd, 54th, 56th, 59th, Innocent Kullu 15th, 30th, 40th, S Chinglensana 17th, 29th, B Horo 19th, Victo Singh 35th, 57th, Sunil Kumar 39th, 61st, 66th, Malak Singh 55th, Vivek Dhar 60th) bt Tripura 0; Uttar Pradesh 9 (Jayakaran 11th, Chouhan Singh 15th, 28th, Md Amir Khan 23rd, 67th, Tushar Khandekar 51st, Kamalesh Rai 52nd, Imran Khan 54th, 63rd) bt Assam 1 (Pankaj Pasumatary 70th)