Karnataka beat Delhi 5-3, set up semifinal with Uttar Pradesh

Karnataka defeated Delhi 5-3 to top Pool A and set up a semifinal clash against Uttar Pradesh in the Alchemist Federation Cup hockey tournament here on Friday.

In the other semifinal, Pool B champions Punjab will take on Tamil Nadu at the Shivaji stadium tomorrow.

The final day of pool matches, Karnataka opened the scoring in the 13th minute through a goal from Shankar Patil before Deepak Bijawad doubled the lead in the 32nd minute.

Delhi, however, made a strong comeback after the change of ends and scored twice through Atuldeep (36th minute) and Pradeep Khatri (52nd) to restore the parity.

But two minutes later Deepak scored his second goal of the day to put Karnataka ahead before Kusha J P (57th) and Biju Yirkal (63rd) found the back of the net once to hand the southern side a 5-2 lead.

Delhi managed to reduce the margin, courtesy an own goal from Karnataka in the dying minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, in an inconsequential match Haryana came up with a spirited effort to get the better of Manipur 5-3.