CHL Night 7: Bulls Break Their Duck in the Rain, Knights and Titans Share a 1-1 Draw
Rain, puddles, a delayed start, and finally a first win. Bailadila Bulls earned it the hard way.
Chinglensana Singh’s side beat Rajdhani Royals 1-0 in Raipur on Wednesday night, in a game Cyclone Arnab held up by almost an hour. Rahul Yadav scored the only goal, a hard slap through an opening in the circle soon after the game finally got going. That was that. Sixty minutes, chances at both ends, one goal.
It wasn’t for want of trying. Gopal Paikra thought he’d doubled the lead with a deflection, only for the umpire to rule it out after the ball came off the post. Jaskaran Singh had penalty corners for the Bulls, but the injections kept coming in as lobs and the variations never quite came off. At the other end the Royals couldn’t turn their own penalty corners into anything, which has been their story all tournament. Himanshu took player of the match, Rahul took striker of the match, and the Bulls are still alive in the semi-final race. The Royals sign off without a win. Not the farewell they wanted, and the conditions didn’t help anyone: passes dying in the water, shots losing their pace, forwards wading through the circle.
The first game of the night was tighter and better. Nyayadhani Knights and Mainpat Titans drew 1-1, and it felt like a semi-final played a round early.
Ketan opened the scoring for the Knights towards the end of the second quarter, following up on the rebound for his sixth goal of the tournament. The Knights’ defence owned the third quarter. No ball in the circle seemed to touch a leg. But the Titans threw numbers forward late, and Mohit Nayak finally broke through in the fourth. Ketan was named striker of the match, Mohit player of the match, and neither side will be unhappy. The Knights were already through to the semis. The Titans have to wait one more night.
The table now reads nicely for the leaders. The Knights sit on 11 points from five games, three wins and two draws. The Titans have 8 from four, two wins and two draws. Thursday decides the rest.
Strikers meet the Titans at 5:00pm PKT, and a Titans win takes them to 11 points and second place. Anything less, and Chakradhar Champions can still nick second with a win over the Bulls at 7:00pm PKT. The Champions sit on 7 points. The Bulls, on 5, would move level with the Titans on 8 if they win and the Titans lose, which would drag goal difference into it. The Strikers, on 4 points, can still keep their own semi-final hopes alive for fourth place with a win. Four teams, two games, one night. That’s how a league stage should end.
The semi-finals are on Friday 31 October, with the final on 1 November.
Related links:
https://sportscursor.com/chhattisgarh-hockey-league-night-7-knights-titans-royals-bulls-28-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/chhattisgarh-hockey-league-night-6-results-walmiki-hat-trick-strikers-first-win-27-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/asian-champions-trophy-table-day-1-india-malaysia-japan-27-october-2026/
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