Punjab score narrow win

Title aspirants Punjab edged out a fighting Bengal 1-0 while Chandigarh rallied brilliantly to script a 2-1 victory over Andhra Pradesh to stay in the reckoning in men's hockey tournament in the 31st National Games in Jallandhar on Friday.

In another match, Tamil Nadu beat Jammu and Kashmir 2-0.

Baljit Singh scored the winner for Punjab in the 38th minute, converting a penalty-corner, as Bengal muffed a number of scoring chances in a fast-paced second half.

Chandigarh conceded the first goal late in the opening session but bounced back to score two goals in quick succession to leave their opponents in a daze.

Anand Ratnakumar put Andhra Pradesh in the lead in the 34th minute with a brilliant effort but that was their only moment of glory as they failed to sustain the momentum in the second session.

Trailing 0-1, Chandigarh stepped up the pace of the game and the strategy seemed to pay dividends as they pumped in two goals in the span of ten minutes.

After initiating a series of raids, Rajpal Singh found the equaliser for Chandigarh in the 41st minute capitalising on a defensive lapse while Gurpreet Kaur scored the second goal much to the delight of his teammates.

Andhra, jolted by the double strike, made a valiant effort to restore parity but the Chandigarh defence responded well to the challenge and gave very little room for maneouvering near the goalmouth.

Tamil Nadu registered a fluent 2-0 victory over lowly Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen their chances for making it to the last four stage.

Playing with a great deal of determination, Tamil Nadu took control of the game from the very beginning by opening their account as early as the fifth minute of the contest.

Forward Diwakar showed fine opportunism to slam in the first goal with a solo effort taking full advantage of a sloppy defence much to the jubilation of his teammates.

The early goal seemed to have a demoralising affect on J & K outfit as they could never really recover from the jolt, allowing their opponents to tighten the noose around them.

Diwakar was again in the thick of action as he produced another superb field goal to consolidate the position for his team.

Leading by a comfortable 2-0 margin at the interval, Tamil Nadu could not show the same rhythm after the breather and missed a number of scoring opportunities.

In the women's matches, played at Ludhiana, Chandigarh made a mockery of the Bihar defence in a league match to record a 12-0 victory.

Prakash Choudhary was the pick of the Chandigarh players, pumping in as many as five goals while Poonam slammed in two goals. Smita Kumari, Anu, Sadhna Singh, Sabu Anjum and Nishi Chauhan were the other scorers.