Hosts Bihar XI and Indian Army, Kolkata stormed into the semi-finals of the All India Jananayak Karpoori Thakur football tournament after getting the better of Himalayan, Sikkim and George Telegraph, Kolkata, respectively here at the Moinul Haq stadium today.
In a keenly-contested match, Bihar overpowered Himalayan Sikkim in a tie-breaker.
While the first half of the match remained goalless, Bihar took lead through Sonu Gawal in the 71st minute. But just after 18 minutes, Abhishek Rai of the Sikkim scored an equaliser through a flick shot in the 89th minute.
Both teams remained locked at 1-1 in the extra 15 minutes time. The referee then awarded five penalty shots to each team to arrive at a decision for the match.
In the penalty shootout, Afzal, Goutam, Ajay Kumar Sharma, Sunil Sharma and Murari netted all five goals for the hosts.
In contrast, Sikkim outfit scored four goals through Birendra Gurung, T Ghyal Stain Bhutia, B Bhutia and Vishal Chettri. Ong Lepcha was the lone player to miss the chance.
In the second match of the day, Indian Army, Kolkata blanked George Telegraph, Kolkata 6-0.
Dominating from the word go, the Army boys thrashed the opponents in the one-sided match.
Midfielder Lallium Mawia of the Army team fired two goals into the opponent net within 10 minutes of play. He drew first blood at 3rd minutes and then again at 8th minute in a solo effort.
Santu Subba made it 3-0 in the 42nd minute to end the first half at 3-0.
In the second half, the Army team pumped in three more goals into the Telegraph net with Anthony Ramesh and Sanal increasing the tally in the 50th and 70th minute, respectively. Rakesh Singh took the tally to 6-0 in the 80th minute of the game.
The second game was interrupted for 10 minutes after PK Mahto of the Army team and Volwe Mputu of Telegraph team collided with each other head on. Both got injured and were taken to hospital.
