Ashish sibi

National Football Championship: Karnataka began their National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy title defence with an eventful 1-1 draw against Delhi at the Golden Jubilee Stadium here on Thursday. Both goals came in the first half as P. Appu Arogya Swamy's long-range stunner for Karnataka was cancelled out by Prabin Tigga's own goal.

Delhi, however, fluffed a golden chance to win it in injury time when Sridarth Nongmeikapam's penalty was well-saved by Christurajan T.

Karnataka started on the front foot and should have taken the lead as early as the seventh minute when Sathish Kumar blazed wide in front of a gaping goal from just six yards out.