NEW DELHI
Manoj Yadav struck twice as Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow beat Punjab Institute of Sports, Mohali 3-2 in its final Pool K match to advance to the semifinals of the 50th Nehru junior under-17 hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium.
Also advancing to the last-four stage was Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Bhopal with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sofia Hockey Academy in Pool L. After a goalless first-half, Mohd. Konain Dad converted two penalty corners in the second to put the Bhopal side ahead. Jeetpal pulled one back for the Sonepat team in the 55th minute, but it was not enough.
In Pool N, Odisha Naval Tata High Performance Centre remained unbeaten with a 2-1 victory against NCC Red while Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Jamshedpur rounded up the semifinal line-up, having already won both its Phase III matches earlier and will take on MPHA for a final spot.
The results:
Pool K: Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow 3 (Manoj Yadav 2, Triloki Venvanshi) bt Punjab Institute of Sports, Mohali 2 (Japnit Singh, Mandeep Singh); Pool L: MPHA, Bhopal 2 (Mohd. Konain Dad 2) bt Sofia HA, Sonepat 1 (Jeetpal); Pool M: CRZ SSS, Sonepat 5 (Sunil, Parikshit Panchail, Vishu, Sahil, Dhruv Ahlawat) bt Govt. Model SSS, Chandigarh 0; Pool N: Odisha Naval Tata HPC, Bhubaneswar 2 (B. Yumkhum Singh, Anmol Ekka) bt NCC Red 1 (Sonu Nishad).
