New Delhi: It was battle of equals at the finals of the 40th Nehru Junior Hockey Tournament played between the Govt. Model Sr. Sec School, Ladowali and Birsa Munda Vidhyapitha, Rourkela at the Dhyanchand Stadium, here on Monday. Both the teams played some good hockey throughout the tournament to win a spot at the finals. But end of it all, Govt School emerged as the better team to win the tournament. They piped Birsa Munda, 5-2 to win the battle of supremacy.
Within the initial moments of the match, Govt boys started exerting their dominance and drew the first blood in the third minute through Gaganjeet Singh off a penalty corner. Pushed to the wall, Birsa Munda went on to offensive mode and were rewarded with a penalty corner in the 15th minute. Birsa Munda’s skipper Sumit Toppo made no mistake and equalized the score. After getting Birsa Munda looked more dangerous and created many more chances. But they could get their second goal only in the 24th minute through Sunil Ekka.
Govt boys down in the match for the first time shifted to damage control mode and just three minutes before the half time got the equalizer through Mandeep Singh.
Both the team went into the half time with a score line of 2-2. After the change of ends, as the teams came out on the ground, the match was poised for an exciting finish. 25 minutes of the second half could not see much, and the score line remaining unchanged. With only 10 minutes left for the match, everyone expected the match to move into the extra time. But then in the 61st minute, Govt Model dealt the blow of the day when they scored their third goal to take the lead with nine minutes left for the match. Hardly could the Munda boys come out of this blow, they were dealt with one more in the 62nd minute. Gaganpreet Singh scored his second goal of the match through a penalty corner to dash the hopes of Birsa Munda. Four minutes later, Govt Model scored the fifth goal of the match to stuck the final nail in the coffin.
Meanwhile Sat Guru Partap Singh Academy, Ludhiana beat Govt. Sr. Sec School, Ludhiana 1-0 to finish as the second runner up of the tournament.
