Air India, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram made the quarterfinal grade of the 34th Junior National (men’s) hockey championship here on Thursday evening.

Mizoram made a record of sorts as they, for the first time, entered the last-eight stage in any age group or Senior National championship.

Mizoram went in to the match against Haryana with a clean slate and maintained it, beating their rivals by a comfortable 5-2 margin.

In the match between Air India and Namdhari XI, the latter needed a draw to progress to the next stage but the two teams fought hard for a result.

Air India players posted a 3-0 lead at the break but Namdharis fought back and reduced the margin to 2-3. The Mumbai team never relented in their defence around the closing stages to win the match at 3-2.

Arjun Antil, Ashish Minz and Innocent Kullu were successful for Air India, while Gurbaj Singh and Mandeep Antil scored for Namdharis.

Hosts Tamil Nadu, after two big wins, were pushed to the limit before they managed to keep their unblemished record intact by edging past Bihar 2-1 for their third win in as many matches in Group A.

With one more match In hand against lowly Vidarbha on the morrow, the home team has cemented its place in the last eight stage.

In other matches, Vidarbha trounced Madhya Bharath 11-0, Chhattisgarh humbled Kerala 9-2 in Group E and Hyderabad scored a last-gasp goal to prevail over Maharashtra 5-4 in Group C.