Lucknow, March 4 (IANS): Chhattisgarh defeated Kerala 3-2 in the fourth edition of the Hockey India (HI) National Championship here Tuesday.

At half time, when Kerala were leading 2-0, nobody could have expected Chhattisgarh to make a comeback and go on to win the match.

Kerala started with great speed and scored in the 18th minute through Sarin. They added another barely a minute before halftime via Jithu Sasi.

In the second half, Chhattisgarh started their goal-spree with Shakeel Ahmed scoring through a penalty corner (54th minute). They continued their attack and, within eight minutes, managed to level the match with Mohd. Erfan Khan's field goal. In the dying moments, the team scored again (69th) through Upendra Pillay.

In another match, Puducherry thrashed Tripura 11-1. While Tripura’s Arif Hussain started the goal scoring session in the ninth minute, it were Puducherry who rained goals during the rest of the match.

A. Tamilarasan scored a hat-trick with all his goals coming in the second half while M. Harikrishna, V. Karthikeyan and N. Kamalakannan scored two goals each.

In the third match of the day, debutants Gangpur (Odisha) beat Mizoram 6-0. Gangpur took off in the third minute with Ashish Anmol Minz scoring through a field goal. The second goal was scored by Banamali Xess (13th). Within four minutes, Minz scored his second goal, converting through a penalty corner. Going into the break, Gangpur led 5-0.

Just four minutes into the second half, Gangpur's Sashi Topno finished the scoring with the sixth.

Results:

Pool D: Chattisgarh 3 beat Kerala 2

Pool C: Puducherry 11 beat Tripura 1; Gangpur 6 beat Mizoram 0