Pune, Mar 16 (IANS): Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal (VBSP) and Savitribai Phule University registered hard-fought wins to book semifinals berths in the SNBP - 28th Nehru All-India Inter-University Hockey Tournament (Inter-Zonal Final) at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium, Nehrunagar, Pimpri on Wednesday.
Savitribai Phule University Pune pipped Bangalore University, Bangalore 1-0, while VBSP, Jaunpur ended last year's third-place finisher Bangalore City University hopes with a 3-2 win in the shoot-out after sharing honours 2-2 at full time.
Home side Pune University played their hearts out to arrest Bangalore University's run and dominated proceedings. Into the second quarter and Taleb Shah (30th) had his crisp reverse hit beat the Bangalore University goalkeeper Shreyas Somaiah hands down.
Bangalore University had a golden chance through Chetan MK in the third quarter but he missed his try on an open goal completely.
Pune University later survived three penalty-corners to hold off the last minute surge from Bangalore University.
In the first quarterfinal, VBSP, Jaunpur and Bangalore City University were locked goalless in the first quarter, before Bangalore City forced the lead off a quick counterattack that ended in Gokavi Vasanth Kumar (18th) scoring.
Surviving a penalty corner, Bangalore City were quick in their transition that had Mutagar Haresh, on the far right in the deep, do well to swap a pass to an unmarked Gokavi, who reversed his attempt past goalkeeper Nigam Prateek 1-0.
VBSP University took their time and worked their equaliser off an indirect penalty-corner. Captain Uttam Singh sighting Manish Sahani (26th) on the left switched intelligently to see his teammate score past Ravi Kumar (1-1).
In the second half, VBSP, Jaunpur took the lead in the fourth quarter when Vejendra Singh (52nd) scored off a reflexive deflection after Uttam Singh drove hard from inside the circle (2-1).
Bangalore City levelled five minutes later through Mutagar Haresh (57th) to end full time at 2-2.
In the shootout, Suraj Shahi, Vejendra Singh, Uttam Singh scored for VBSP University, while Ganesh Majji and Mutagar Haresh scored for Bangalore City.
Arun Shahani and Gagan Rajbhar missed for Jaunpur, while Bangalore had Pavan, Bharat and Punith miss their attempts.