Nehru College in Nehru hockey semis

Riding on Irfan Ali’s brace Jawaharlal Nehru PG College, Bhopal, defeated Pachaiyappa College, Chennai, 4-2 to make it to the semifinals of the 15th SAIL-Nehru champion colleges Hockey tournament played at the Shivaji Stadium here on Tuesday.

Irfan Ali opened the account for the Bhopal team in the16th minute while R Sathyarajan restored parity for Pachaiyappa College three minutes later. Irfan struck one more to surge ahead in the 27th minute. Bhopal team was leading 2-1 at half-time.

On Resumption, Arif scored one more in the 37th minute to make it 3-1 for Bhopal outfit. Ashok Kumar pulled back one more in the 53rd minute to reduce the margin for the Chennai team. Nadeem Baig netted the fourth goal in the 58th minute to seal the fate of the opponents.

In the other match of the day, Municipal College, Rourkela, convincingly beat M S Mahavidyalaya, Gazipur, 5-2. Nuel Tirkey (4th), Nitish Bhardwaj (16th), A A Minz (55th), Sunil Kujur (66th) and Anil Lakra (70th) were the marksmen for the Rourkela side. Amar Nath Ram (7th, 9th) sounded the board twice for the Uttar Pradesh team.