Karnataka finished third in 2nd Hockey India Senior Men National Championship

Scoring once in each half, Karnataka defeated last year’s winners Haryana 2- 1 finish third in 2^nd Hockey India Senior Men National Championship here on Tuesday.

For Karnataka, MB Aiyappa struck in the 24th minute from a goalmouth scramble following a left-wing move and in the 41st, skipper VR Raghunath converted a penalty corner before his counterpart Sardar Singh scored for Haryana with a reverse hit in the 60th.

In the play-off involving the 2011 finalists, Karnataka dominated and could have won by a bigger margin as they again wasted a few scoring chances while Haryana showed urgency and energy only late in the game.

From the outset, Karnataka, showing appreciable fluency and purpose, applied pressure on Haryana, but the forwards were a let-down as they failed to cash in on the openings inside the striking circle.

It was left to Aiyappa, later adjudged Man of the Match, to open the Karnataka account with an opportunistic goal that inspired the hosts to redouble their efforts.

However, it was not until the 41st minute that Karnataka managed to breach the Haryana defence when Raghunath came good with a drag-flick for the only penalty corner conversion from five attempts.

At the other end, Haryana had few opportunities as they could not find a way through the well- organised Karnataka defence that however slackened in the last quarter that saw Sardar Singh latching on to a pass to essay a reverse hit to goal.

With time running out, Haryana switched to an all-court press, but Karnataka pulled back all their players to defend and managed to nurse their slender lead to the final hooter.

In fact, Haryana forced four of their seven penalty corners in the second-half, all proving abortive, while Karnataka received five short corners, but could convert only one.

The result (For 3-4 classification):

Karnataka 2 (MB Aiyappa 24th; VR Raghunath 41st) beat Haryana 1 (Sardar Singh 60st).