JOIN USKarnataka challenge ends
Karnataka's challenge at the 63rd Senior National Kabaddi Championship ended as their women's team went down 26-19 to Himachal Pradesh in their quarterfinal tie at the Malleswaram grounds here on Saturday.
With their men out of the reckoning before the knockouts even began, the boisterous home crowd had pinned their hopes on the women's team and cheered their every point. But that was not to be as Himachal dominated the latter half to set up a semifinal clash with Indian Railways, who edged Delhi 9-8.
In the men's category, Services moved one step closer to defending their title as they progressed to the semifinals after coasting to a 54-37 victory against Maharashtra.
They will face Rajasthan who eased past Himachal Pradesh 29-22.
Unfazed by the crowds, Himachal took advantage of Karnataka's slow start to take a 14-3 lead in the initial minutes of the match but skipper Usharani and raider Sushmita Pawar brought the hosts back into the game, reaping points with their raids.
Usharani also marshalled her troops well in defence, forging a partnership with Saraswati Dilip as they negated the threat from Himachal's raiders.
Karnataka won successive points to end the half trailing by just five points as Himachal were found wanting.
In the second half, Karnataka lost their edge right from the start and found it hard to deal with Himachal raider Priyanka Singh. Priyanka put in a stellar second half show securing successive bonus points to flatten Karnataka.
The hosts did make an attempt to get back into the game but after starting slowly in both halves, they left themselves with too much ground to cover. Priyanka top-scored for Himachal as she bagged 10 points from 17 of her raids, while Navyashree was Karnataka's star with six points.
Meanwhile, in another men’s quarterfinal, a rare Manjeet Chillar error while on a raid during the dying minutes gave Haryana a famous 12-11 win over fancied Indian Railways.
Haryana will face Uttar Pradesh in the other semifinal as Rahul Choudhary inspired them to a 39-18 win over Tamil Nadu.
Semifinal line-up: Men: Services vs Rajasthan; Uttar Pradesh vs Haryana.
Women: Indian Railways vs Himachal Pradesh; Maharashtra vs Haryana.
Results: Men: Quarterfinals: Services bt Maharashtra 54-37; Rajasthan bt Himachal Pradesh 29-22; Uttar Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 39-18; Haryana bt Indian Railways 12-11. Pre-quarterfinals: HP 34 bt Delhi 32; Maharashtra 26 bt Telangana 24; Tamil Nadu bt Uttarakhand 27-15; Indian Railways bt Madhya Pradesh 48-17.
Quarterfinals: Women: Himachal Pradesh bt Karnataka 26-19; Indian Railways bt Delhi 9-8; Haryana bt Uttar Pradesh 45-12; Maharashtra bt Tamil Nadu 37-18.
Pre-quarterfinals: Karnataka bt Kerala 33-31; Delhi bt Punjab 22-16; Uttar Pradesh bt Chandigarh 24-22.