Karnataka too good for Andhra

West Bengal got past Tamil Nadu 2-1, Chandigarh held Services to a 2-2 draw and Karnataka scored a solitary goal win over Maharashtra.in the league matches of the men's hockey tournament at the 31st National Games in Jallandhar, on Thursday.

In the first match of the day in Pool A, West Bengal, with goals from Ayaz Ahmad and Anil Ekka, beat Tamil Nadu, whose only goal came from the stick of Padmanabhan.

The winners shot into an early lead when, in the 11th minute, they were awarded a penalty stroke after an infringment in the penalty area by a Tamil Nadu defender. Ayaz Ahmad made no mistake with the stroke.

Leading by a solitary goal in the first half, Bengal increased their lead when Anil Ekka collected a pass outside the penalty area and after dodging two defenders beat the on-rushing TN goalkeeper. The losers reduced the margin in the 53rd minute when Padmanabhan converted a penalty-corner.

In the second match of the day, Chandigarh rallied twice to come from behind and hold the Services to a 2-2 draw in Pool B.

For Services, Kamal Horo scored a brace while for Chandigarh Gurpreet and Saurab Bishnoi found the mark.

Services shot into the lead when Kamal Horo converted a penalty-corner in the fifth minute. Chandigarh restored parity after Gurpreet scooped the ball into the net following a penalty-corner.

At half-time both teams were locked 1-1.

Services again took the lead in the 48th minute when Horo converted a field goal. Chandigarh then mounted an all out offensive against their rivals and their pressure paid off when in the dying minutes of the game they were awarded a penalty-corner. Bishnoi smashed the ball into the board to tie the match 2-2.

Maharashtra were unlucky to go down. In 17th minute, Maharashtra's deep defenders wrongly stopped Karnataka's forward Sandeep Michael following which the umpire awarded a penalty stroke in favour of Karnataka. Rawat made no mistake in converting it.

In the women's competition, at Ludhiana, Haryana thrashed Chandigarh 5-1 in a Group-A league match after conceding a goal early in the contest.

Seeta and Pritam struck a brace each for the winners while Suman Bala chipped in with a goal in the one-sided contest. Prakash scored the lone goal for Chandigarh.