NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Army Boys Sports Company, Danapur decimated Sri Lanka School XI 13-1 to complete the semifinal line up, while the holders Union Public Academy lost to Birsamunda Vidyapitha Rourkela 2-3 to crash out of contention in the 26th Junior Nehru Hockey Tournament today.

Both Army Boys and Union Academy finished the Pool I league assignments with four points each but the former made it to the last four grade by virtue of better goal difference. In the other matches of the day, St Ignatius School Gumla overcame Shivalik Public School (Chandigarh) 4-3 to top the pool II.

The semifinals line-up reads, Birsamunda Vidyapitha will take on Shivalik Public School while Army Boys Sports, Danapur faces St Ignatius Gumla.

Spearheaded by Endm Zozo and Arvind Kumar who scored four and three goals respectively, Alexius Tirkey, Vijay Topno (two each), Sosan Topno and Mansid Bhengra (one each) were the other scorers for Danapur. WSD Peris reduced the margin for the losers.

In a keenly contested match, Elias Horo put Gumla in the lead in the sixth minute but Sukchain Singh converted a penalty corner to make it 1-1 four minutes later.

However Shivalik school fought back and in a space of two minutes scored as many goals to draw parity. Four minutes before the final whistle Atyal Tirkey scored the winner for Gumla side (4-3).

After Danapur boys had thrashed Sri Lankans,defending champion Union Academy needed a eight goal win over Birsamunda to qualify for the knock out stage. And in the end union academy lost to Birsamunda 2-3 after trailing 0-2 at half time.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.