In-form striker Md Naemuddin hammered in five goals as Karnataka crushed a hapless Andhra 17-0 to prime themselves for the title in the South Zone hockey championship here at the KSHA stadium on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu too scored a resounding 8-1 victory over Kerala to register their fourth win from as many matches. They are level on 12 points with leaders Karnataka but way behind on goal difference.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu lock horns in the final league clash on Friday.
While Karnataka need just a draw to seal the title, Tamil Nadu have to beat their neighbours.
Results: Karnataka: 17 (Mohan Muthanna 4th, 19th, Bijju 13th, Md Naeemuddin 18th, 24th, 25th, 34th, 62nd, Jayaraj 26th, 27th, Somanna CK 41st, Naveen Kumar M 43rd, 64th, 65th, Deepak Bijwad 44th, Vinayak Bijwad 60th, Darshan 61st) bt Andhra: 0; Tamil Nadu: 8 (Adam Sinclair 2nd, 12th, Shyam Kumar 16th, Sathya 22nd, Raja 26th, Muddappa 36th, 68th, Vinod Rayen 56th) bt Kerala: 2 (Afzal 55th, Praveen Kumar 59th); Puducherry: 7 (Hari Krishnan 5th, 14th, Delhi Ganesh 17th, 44th, Sella Muthu 31st, Kamalakannan 43rd, Manthenapradyumnvarma 67th) bt Hyderabad: 3 (Sai 41st, Shiva Kumar 46th, Vijaya Kumar 68th.
