As expected, all the top teams breezed into the quarterfinals of the Hockey India 13th Senior National men’s championship here.
With five teams already making it to the last eight on Thursday, it was left to the remaining three—Punjab (Pool D), Uttar Pradesh (G) and Odisha (H) to qualify, and they all did it in style in their last group matches, with thumping wins on Friday.
Early in the morning, strong favourite Punjab blanked Uttarakhand 13-0 with Harmanpreet Singh and Jugraj Singh scoring a hat-trick each. Later, Uttar Pradesh dominated from start to finish as it completed an 8-1 victory over Rajasthan.
In the last match of the day, Odisha routed Telangana 7-0. Though Odisha ran riot in the second, third and fourth quarters, it was Telangana that shone in the first as it withstood a barrage of attacks from its opponent.
READ MORE: Nilakanta scores twice as Manipur storms into quarterfinals of Senior Men’s National Hockey
A special mention must be made of Telangana’s captain and goalkeeper Sai Kumar Gangavath, who made some wonderful saves throughout, especially in the first quarter.
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