Bangalore, June 21: In what turned out to be the most absorbing encounter of the championship thus far, fancied Punjab & Sind Bank held their nerves when it mattered most to hold fighting Orissa to a two-all draw for a quarter-final berth in the 30th junior National hockey championship, sponsored by Tatas, today.The bankmen, trailing 1-2 and needing just a draw, levelled scores in injury time as Bikramjit Singh's rasping hit off their last penalty corner landed in the Orissa net.
Despite the draw, the bankmen entered the last eight stage from Pool `C' on better goal average. Both teams went into the crucial game with two wins from as many matches; however, PSB had 19 goals for and two against, while Orissa scored 14 and conceded four. Punjab had earlier entered the quarterfinals from Pool A.
NINE FROM NINE: Prolific scorer Prabhakar Singh, sporting jersey No 9, pumped in as many goals in Delhi's 15-0 win over Assam in Pool E. Prabhakar made mincemeat of the rivals' defence by slamming goals at will, inthe 17th, 26th, 31st, 34th, 41st, 43rd, 50th, 53rd and 68th minutes.
Results
Pool C:
PSB 2 (Prabhdeep Singh 47th, ) drew Orissa 2 (Anil Ekka 48th, Sushil Kujur 66th); Pool D: Services 7 (Paramjit Singh 3, Gabriel Herenz, Arun Minj, Basu Horo, Devki Nandan) bt Nagaland 1; Pool E: Delhi 15 (Prabhakar Singh 9, Sanjeet Kumar 2, Sonu 2, Raju 2) bt Assam 0; Pool F: UP 4 (Arshad Ahmed 2, Avinash Saxena, Ranjit Singh) bt Manipur 0; SAIL 3 (Ajit Tirkey, Saroj Dung, Nageshwar Topno) bt AP 0
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.