Punjab score third straight win

Punjab maintained a clean slate in Pool A of the men's hockey tournament at the National Games after edging past Tamil Nadu 2-1on Saturday.

In another match, in Pool B, lowly Andhra Pradesh earned their first point when they held Mahrashtra to a 1-1 draw.

Punjab went into the lead in the eighth minute when they were awarded a penalty stroke and Rajinder Sngh made no mistake.

However in the 23rd minute, Tamil Nadu restored parity when Padmanabhan scored off a penalty corner.

Punjab struck again seven minutes later to take a the lead through a field goal by Gurmeet Singh. The home side then held on grimly to register their third successive victory.

Andhra, after losing their first three matches, earned a point when they drew with Maharashtra.

Maharashtra, despite taking the lead in the 12th minute through a penalty-stroke could not hold on and Andhra equalised just before the breather.

In the women's hockey tournament, Punjab will meet Haryana while Maharashtra take on Chandigarh in the semi-finals.

In the last league engagements on Saturday, defending champions Maharashtra beat Orissa 4-0 while Punjab beat Manipur 5-1.