Shetty's act also smoothened the passage for the Bombay Hockey Association Colts for becoming the first team to enter the last four of the championship, albeit by a whisker's breadth (1-0).

Pune Combined XI's campaign was quelled by Karnataka Postal Board from Bangalore with a 5-2 verdict, while Central Railways pipped Bharath Electricals Limited, Bangalore, 6-5 via the penalty shoot-out in the last quarter-final of the day.

In the semi-final, Karnataka Postal Board will take on Central Railways while BHA Colts await the winners of Gujarat XI and Bombay Port Trust in the matches slated for tomorrow evening.

Playing against all odds, BEG exhibited some fine hockey with Naman Bage, Olympian Ajit Lakra and P D Barla marshalling the troops in a telling fashion. It was umpire Vijay Gopal, however, who played the demon's role.

Vijay Gopal did well by awarding a stroke when BEG's defender Naman Bage obstructed Asad Khan of BHA Colts in the striking zone, but he failed in his duty to apply the same rule when BHA Colts keeper Girish AP squatted on the ball during the execution of a penalty corner by the BEG.

Although Vijay Shetty was authoritative in his duty otherwise, this blatant act overshadowed all his good deeds.

It was clearly the day of the Bombay lads, as not only the umpire Vijay Shetty, but also the cross-piece came to their rescue, when BEG's eighth corner hit the cross-piece before going out.

Pune Combined XI failed to combine as a team and their disoriented attitude, even after forging ahead, did them no good as they let loose the Postal Board from Bangalore who scored the last three goals with much ease, thanks to the defensive lapses of the opponents.

And the man to capitalise the most on the opportunity was the lanky Anup Anthony who scored three goals. Taranath and Joseph were the other scorers for the team.

Santosh Musale and Anil Phasge were the goal-getters for Pune Combined XI. After the teams failed to break the dead-lock in the 60 minutes, and later in the shoot-out, they were levelled 5-5 for the introduction of the sudden death. Prasad failed for BEL while Sukhdev Singh made sure with his stroke to stroke the Central Railways in the semifinal.

In the tie-breaker, Lakesh P, Amin Mohammad, Ravi Passi, Vijendra Singh and Sukhdev Singh scored for the Central Railways, while Prasad, Venkatesh, David Shri Hasha and Luke Udaychandra scored for BEL.

It was a story of missed opportunities for the Karnataka State Police -- the Travancore Cup winners -- when they made their exit from the championship with a 0-3 verdict against Mumbai Port Trust this morning.

The score line, however, was no indication of their domination over the players from Mumbai, but it was their custodian Jehangir Shaikh who played the anchor role for them when he saved as many as seven attempts by the cops from Karnataka. Nevertheless, it was the Policemen from down south who made him the hero, hitting straight to him rather than trying to penetrate the 84 square feet rectangle.

The Karnataka coach was spot on when he said that it was his players who were responsible for the debacle. ``My boys boosted the morale of the rival keeper hitting straight to him, but the keeper thereafter made a most of it.''

The game started on a sedate note with the teams not taking any chances as the surface was not conducive for playing good hockey. In as early as the seventh minute of play, Anwar Shaikh found the target from an acute angle to put the MPT ahead.

The goal, however, did not gear up the Mumbai Players and it was the team from down South -- the Karnataka State Police -- who held the upper hand for the next 20 minutes. However, all their efforts came to naught owing to their poor finishing and to add to their miseries the Mumbai keeper stood between them and the goal.

With two minutes left for the breather, MPT were 2-0 up to troop off the field for the break on a rather high note, despite their rivals making their defence do some over-time in that session.

The changeover also brought about a change in Karanataka's attitude, but they did everything but score. In the total tally, they gained over seven corners but all the good work went in vain. Umar Farooq drove the third and final nail in the Policemen's coffin which saw the latter loose the battle even before the game was over. Farooq's goal came in the seventh minute of the second session.

In the other matches played in the morning, Pune Combine XI pipped Tamil Nadu 4-2, while Bharath Electronics, Bangalore, defeated Union Bank, Mumbai, 2-1.

Anil Phasge led the Pune lads from the front with his fine show in the defence and with some visits to the Tamil Nadu's goalmouth occasionally. After the teams failed to break the deadlock in the 70 minutes of play the tie-breaker was introduced. Shyam Sharma, Umesh Pulgam, Anand Salvi and Sri Hari Bhosale scored for Pune with the much depended upon Sanjay Pollaya putting it wide off the target.

For Tamil Nadu it was Govind Raj and Shanumagam Raja who found the net. Jagan Sethil and Cerdric D'Souza were the failures for Tamil Nadu.

Today's fixtures:
(QF) Bombay Port Trust vs Gujarat XI 8 30 a.m; (Semifinals) Karnataka Postal Board vs Central Railways 2 p.m; BHA Colts vs winners of Gujarat and MPT 3.30 p.m.