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Chennai, Jul 17 (PTI) Star-studded BPCL went down fighting 2-3 to Punjab National Bank while Namdhari XI drew 3-3 with Karnataka in their group matches of the MCC-Murugappa hockey championship here today. In a rain-interrupted match, BPCL went into the lead in the 13th minute through Karamjit Singh, who again put them in the lead 2-1 after Satpal sounded the boards in the 40th minute.
In the second half of the match, which was stopped for 15 minutes, the Bankmen scored twice in the space of a minute through Ravinder Twetia (60th) and Lakwinder Singh (61st). In the first match, Karnataka, the lone state team in the fray, paid for their defence lapses against a fighting Namdharis.
After Ravikumar gave them the lead in the seventh minute, Karnataka scored twice through Nitin Thimmaiah (12th) and Vivek Ramalingam (18th). However, the Namdharis made amends in the second half and started attacking from both the wings to dislodge the Karnataka defence.
Karnataka denied their rivals a good look at the goal for sometime but once Gurupreeth reduced the margin in the 57th minute, the tide turned in favour of Namdharis. Karnataka wilted under pressure and Gurupreeth scored again in the very next minute.
Harpreet then hit the third goal to draw the match. In another group tie, Hockey India Juniors beat Southern Railway with substitute Naveen Sangwan scoring in the 65th minute.
Sangwan collected a pass from the left by captain Lalith Upadhayaya, moved in and reverse flicked the ball into the net.
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