Gursewvak stars for Mumbai BHOPAL: Haryana fashioned their maiden entry into the championship round and set up a title clash with Mumbai following convincing wins in the semi-finals of the 63rd Rangaswamy Cup Senior National Hockey Championship at the floodlit Aishbagh Astroturf Stadium, Bhopal on Friday.

In the first semi-finals, defender Gursev Singh fired in two crucial goals to steer Mumbai, as the former champions routed Chandigarh 3-0, while Haryana pipped four-time runners-up Tamil Nadu 2-1 in the second semi-final.

Man of the match Gursev scored the first two goals in the 4th and 63rd minutes and forward Jayesh Jadhav added the third in the 67th, all off penalty corners.

Haryana, who dominated the match, opened their account in the 37th minute through Naveen Antil’s field goal and added the match-winner in the second half off a 57th minute penalty stroke scored by Kulbhushan Vashisht.

Tamil Nadu scored in the 45th minute when R. Ashok found the target off a penalty corner.

Mumbai got off to a dream start, putting the pressure early on the opposition when Manish Yadav, who was in front of the goal, failed to trap a Laxman Rao pass in the third minute. But to their delight, they earned their first penalty corner in the next minute and defender Gursev Singh found the net off goalkeeper Harjeet Singh’s pads.

A full strength Chandigarh, looking for their maiden entry into the championship round, came back into the match by the end of the first quarter and earned two scoring opportunities in quick succession, though both went abegging.

On the first occasion, Gaganjeet failed to connect a cross from the right while in front of goal in the 13th minute, and defender Gagandeep Jr’s firm grounder off their first penalty corner was brilliantly saved on the goalline by Amit Gowda.

With a 1-0 advantage at half time, Mumbai kicked off the second half like they did the first and held possession soon after resumption.

The speedy Vikram Yadav should have found the target in the 41st minute but an alert custodian Harjeet padded the ball away to safety. Harjeet effected another save four minutes later while foiling Gyanendra Pandey.

In between, Chandigarh’s Harmanpreet and Deepanshu Bhargav missed the target by a whisker off their third penalty corner that would have kept their hopes alive and set the tone for an exciting finish.

But Gursev made it safe for Mumbai with his second goal off their third penalty corner in the 63rd minute and Jayesh Jadhav sealed victory three minutes from the end off the fourth and last penalty corner.

Saturday: 7 p.m. Chandigarh vs TN (Hardlines, 63rd National Hockey Championship, Aishbagh Stadium, Bhopal)