State girls, who won the title last year in Jaipur, got off to a winning start with a comfortable 3-1 win over Bengal at the PM Swim Centre, Jayanagar. However, the boys had to sweat it out to beat Punjab 5-4 in a thrilling contest.

In the Karnataka-Bengal match, both teams failed to break the deadlock in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Sowbhagya Lakshmi KT put the hosts ahead. After the break, Mrudula V made it 2-0 before Uttara G Kothari, in the fourth and final quarter, swelled the lead to 3-0.

Tagari Baidya netted the consolation goal for Bengal in the dying minutes of the match. The State boys, who were outplayed by Bengal 8-16 on Wednesday, rode on a brace from Avinash A Rao to emerge narrow winners. Lohith K, Vishal A and Ramston Edwin Rodriques were the other scorers for hosts.

For Punjab, Kuldeep Singh found the target twice and Karan Brar and Amito Verma scored goal apiece.

Results: Boys: Karnataka: 5 (Avinash A Rao 2, Lohith K, Vishal A, Ramston Edwin Rodriques) bt Punjab: 4 (Kuldeep Singh 2, Karan Brar, Amito Verma).
Bengal bt Madhya Pradesh 11-2; Maharashtra bt Manipur 14-1; Kerala bt Delhi 7-0.
Girls: Karnataka: 3 (Sowbhagya Lakshmi K T, Mrudula V, Uttara G Kothari) bt Bengal: 1 (Tagari Baidya).
Maharashtra bt Delhi 13-0.