Santosh Trophy: Delhi holds Karnataka to 1-1 draw

Delhi held defending champion Karnataka to a 1-1 draw in the opening round of the Group B league of the 77th National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.

Karnataka took the lead midway through the first half when Appu Arogya Swamy struck the target in the 23rd minute. But an own goal from defender Prabin Tigga in the 26th minute cancelled Karnataka’s advantage. Delhi held on to its defence well and denied Karnataka any further chance to regain the lead as the two teams ended the action with a point each.

In another match of the same group, substitute Akash Babu found the equaliser late in the injury-time (90+5 minute) to help Railways hold former champion Manipur to a 1-1 draw. Manipur took the lead in the 56th minute off Sanathoi Meetei before Babu came in with his late conversion to deny it the win.

Maharashtra beat Mizoram convincingly by a 3-1 margin in the final group B match of the day to pick up the full quota of points.