Chennai: Day-5 of the 4th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2014 (Division A) played in Chennai on Wednesday, witnessed hard fought battles with nail-biting moments. Haryana and Punjab proved their mettle as they triumphed in their respective matches and stormed into the semi-finals.
In a Pool C match, both Haryana and Jharkhand held their fort for a long time as they played a self-protective game and did not let each other go for the kill, until Haryana’s Karmbir managed to sneak in a field goal, as late as in the 42nd minute of the game. Shortly, Karmbir was supported by team mate Nikhil Saroha in the 45th minute which gave Haryana a 2-0 lead over Jharkhand. With just a minute in hand before the final buzzer went off, Jharkhand’s Amit Bhengra sliced in a field goal which only helped the team in reducing the goal difference to 2-1. Haryana registered their second win in the championship and entered the semi-finals from Pool C.
In Pool A match, Punjab’s enthusiasm to enter the semi-finals helped in crushing the Tamil Nadu in today’s match with a glorious 9-1. Punjab’s Parvinder Singh opened the account for the team in the 4th minute of the match itself, followed by Ajit Pandit, Varun Kumar and Baljinder Kaur in the 12th, 16th and the 35th minute contributing a total of four goals for the team altogether, whereas, Tamil Nadu managed to score only one goal which came through Anand Satthi Krishnan in the 28th minute. Punjab fired five more goals in the second half of the match where Ajit Pandit became the top scorer with a total of three goals to his credit. With today’s major 9-1 win, Punjab qualified for the semi-finals of the championship along with Haryana.
In another Pool C match, neither Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy nor Uttar Pradesh was ready to surrender as both the teams put up a good fight to claim the match in their favour. Mohd Nizamuddin opened the account for Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy in the 14th minute to take the lead by 1-0. Raju Pal’s successful penalty corner in the 25th minute of the game helped Uttar Pradesh to level the scores at 1-1. Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy’s Nikky Kushal managed to gain the lead back when he converted a penalty corner in the 29th minute but it was Uttar Pradesh’s Manish Rajbhar who pierced in the equalizer in the 33rd minute to stop the score at 2-2 by the end of the first half. Within a minute after the second half started Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy’s Arjun Sharma sneaked in the third goal for the team which saw a quick counter by Uttar Pradesh’s Manish Rajbhar in the 38th minute. The game now tied at 3-3 saw the last and the winning goal coming through Mohd Nizamuddin in the 46th minute which helped the team register a magical win with a 4-3 on board.
Results of the day-
Pool C Hockey Haryana 2 Karmbir (42 min) and Nikhil Saroha (45 min) Vs. Hockey Jharkhand 1 Amit Bhengra (69 min)
Pool A Hockey Punjab 9 Ajit Pandit (12, 66 and 69 min), Baljinder Singh (35 and 68 min), Parvinder Singh (4 min), Varun Kumar (16 min), Harmanpreet Singh (49 min) and Shamsher Singh (60 min) Vs. Hockey Unit Of Tamil Nadu 1 Anand Satthi Krishnan (28 min)
Pool C Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 4 Mohd Nizamuddin (14 and 46 min), Nikky Kushal (29 min) and Arjun Sharma (36 min) Vs. Uttar Pradesh Hockey 3 Manish Rajbhar (33 and 38 min) and Raju Pal (25 min)
