Chetri saves day for Karnataka XI

Karnataka XI goalkeeper Bharath Chetri stole the limelight, saving three goals in the tie-breaker as his team beat Sikh Regiment Centre (SRC) 3-0 via the tie-breaker, to enter the third round in the 40th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament, at the Mahindra stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

In the other match of the day, Western Railway defeated Hyderabad XI by a solitary goal to enter the second round.

The Karnataka XI -- SRC match was evenly contested, with both teams guilty of missing gilt-edged chances. Karnataka XI had the first chance to go ahead in the 17th minute, but A K Kavin's shot off their second penalty-corner hit the chest of the opposing team's goalkeeper and went out of play.

Chetri then did well to save a Rajpal Singh shot from a penalty-corner in the 24th minute.

The Karnataka goalkeeper was once again in the thick of action when he foiled an attempt of Lalit Indwar.

Karnataka then got their best chance of the match, in the 51st minute, but John Vergese failed to connect a pass by Hariprasad with an open goal in front of him.

With both teams failing to break the deadlock, the tie-breaker was enforced. Chetri stood out, making three brilliant saves to give his team entry into the third round.

For Karnataka XI, Arn Rawat, A K Kavin and Arjun Halappa scored, while Chetri saved the attempts of SRC's Vinay Kumar, Sukhmander Singh and Rajpal Singh.

In a first round match, Western Railway just managed to get past Hyderabad XI via a 16th minute penalty stroke.

Raghu Nandan brought down Western Railway centre forward Prem Kumar inside the circle and the ensuing penalty stroke was clamly converted by Gursev Singh.

The match did not rise to any great heights. Western Railway had a chance to increase the lead in the third minute of the second half but Vijay Alphonso's shot was palmed away by the Hyderabad goalkeeper.