Indian Air Force,
Indian Air Force and National Hockey Academy scored their second wins in as many days to book quarterfinal league berths in the 54th Nehru men’s hockey tournament at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in the capital on Sunday.
The airmen pipped Canara Bank 3-2 while National Hockey Academy got past Indian Navy 64 in a shoot-out after tying 2-2 in the regulation time.
On the opening day, NHA defeated Delhi Hockey 6-5 on penalties while IAF beat RCF, Kapurthala, 5-2.
Canara Bank began on a strong note as K.P. Dinesh (21st) and Bharath (29th) scored for a 2-0 cushion even as the airmen failed to score in the first half.
The second half saw IAF up their game, Sanwar (43rd) reduced the margin before Daman equalised in the 52nd minute. Rahul Rajabar (61st) pumped a third consecutive goal for Indian Air Force to steer the team home.
Later, Jugraj Singh drew first blood for Indian Navy but within four minutes Abhishek fetched the equaliser for National Hockey Academy.
After the break, Jugraj (48th) was again on target but Vivek Sagar nullified the lead in the 57th minute and took the match to the shoot-out. Abhishek, Vishal, Vishnu Kant and Shivam Anand converted for NHA while Sagar missed. Amit Goswami and Rajat Sharma did the conversion for the Navy but Jugraj and Rana Pratap missed the target.