PUNE: Excellency Academy and Vikram Pillay Academy ‘A’ rode on the individual efforts of Vineet Kamble and Venkatesh Kench respectively to enter the semifinals of the inaugral Mar Osthathios Invitational Hockey Tournament at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium on Tuesday.

Excellency Academy downed Green Meadows 6-3, while Vikram Pillay Academy ‘A’ routed Priyadarshini SC, Khadki 7-1.

Late afternoon, Excellency Academy had Vineet lead from the front with a three-in-a-row (13th, 25th, 29th) effort. His feat, helped his team gain an edge in a half that saw Green Meadows match them goal to goal. Vineet’s second goal was off a penalty-corner.

In reply, Green Meadows scored twice via Sangram Pokle (24th/28th) which ended the first-half 3-2 in favour of Excellency. Switching sides, Harsh Parmar (39th), Saurab Patil (47th) off a penalty-corner and  Monish Chavan (53rd) swelled Excellency Academy’s tally to 4-2, 5-2 and then 6-2.

Thereafter, Green Meadows had their chances but failed to score in easy situations. Amit Rajput (56th) sounded the boards off a penalty-corner. but the goal was too late in the day.

Earlier, Vikram Pillay Academy ‘A’, led by Vikram Pillay, became the first team to enter the last-four. 

RESULTS
QF1: Vikram Pillay Academy ‘A’: 7 (Venkatesh Kench 4th, 35th, 59th; Raise Mujawar 20th; Aditya Landge 36th; Harish Shindgi 37th; Taleb Shah 46th) bt Priyadarshini SC, Khadki: 1 (Bryan Louis 29th). HT: 2-1
QF2: Excellence Academy: 6 (Vineet Kamble 13th, 25th, 29th; Harsh Parmar 39th; Saurab Patil 47th; Monish Chavan 53rd) bt Green Meadows: 3 (Sangram Pokle 24th, 28th; Amit Rajput 56th). HT: 3-2.