Defending champions Sundergarh’s Town High School rode on Ashwin Kujur’s golden goal to beat Birsa Munda Vidyapitha from Rourkela 2-1 in the first semi-final of the 30th Nehru sub-junior hockey boys tournament in the capital on Saturday.
The teams were locked 1-1 in the regulation time, before Kujur did the star turn for the Rourkela side, scoring the golden goal in the 82nd minute.
Earlier, the Rourkela boys opened the scoring in the ninth minute through Minil Topo, but the Sundergarh team bounced back three minutes later, Anuranjan Minz bringing home the equaliser.
In the other semi-final, last year runners-up Jalandhar’s Government Senior Secondary School pipped Baba Gurmukh Singh Uttam Singh Senior Secondary School of Taran Taran 3-2.
The Jalandhar side drew the first blood through Dharmen-dra Singh (3rd minute).
Gurvinder Singh struck two goals (50th and 51st minutes) for the Taran Taran outfit before a Gurpreet equaliser (61st minute) forced the match into extra-time. Navdeep struck in the 73rd minute to seal a final berth for the Jalandhar boys.