Karnataka went down to West Bengal 0-1 in their opening Group D quarterfinal league match in the 67th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium here on Saturday.
Navin Hela scored the winner in the 30th minute.
Karnataka, who had come into the quarterfinal league after an all-win record, struggled to get going against an inspired Bengal. The strike force of S Rajesh and V Stephen, who between them scored 15 goals in the group phase, were kept on a tight leash by the Bengal defenders.
Bengal had scraped through to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Delhi and a goalless draw against Railways. However, they raised the level of play on the day.
Navin scored the all-important goal off a corner. The ball came off a defender and the 21-year-old slotted in past Karnataka custodian Sharat Narayan.
Punjab blanked Manipur 3-0 in another Group D game. Rohit put Punjab ahead in the eighth minute. Bali Sarandeep doubled the lead in the 34th minute, while captain Sukhjeet Singh completed the tally in the 74th minute.
Punjab take on Bengal and Karnataka clash with Manipur on Monday.
Defending champions Services were held to a goalless draw by Railways in a Group A tie in Kochi while Odisha edged out Madhya Pradesh 3-2. Abhimanyu Pandey (62nd), Mohd Ezhan (79th) and Sanjeeb Panna (90th) scored for Odisha while Furba (72nd) and Javed (82nd) struck for MP.
