Pune: It will be a clash of styles as Haryana will face Odisha in the final of the 1st Hockey India Junior Men’s National hockey championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex Synthetic turf here on Thursday.
After Odisha had obliterated Punjab’s resilience in the first semifinal, winning it 4-2; Haryana saved blushes for northerners as they rallied twice from being down before beating Jharkhand 5-3 in the second semifinal.
Rajin Kandulna, who scored the golden goal against Maharashtra to give Jharkhand a memorable 2-1 quarterfinal win, put the easterners ahead in the 26th minute before Ranjit Singh equalized a minute before the half-time. Kandulna again gave Jharkhand the leverage to wield by slotting in his second goal, in the 42nd minute, but Haryana picked up pace then on and took control of the match.
Prolific goal-scorer Malak Singh equalized in the 51st minute before Manish Rana (53rd) and Ranjit Singh (54th) scored in quick succession to silence Jharkhand. One more goal from Haryana came through Hansraj Ramphal before Arvin Kujur found a consolation goal in the last minute of the match.
Punjab were themselves to blame as they allowed Odisha to play attacking brand of hockey despite going up early in the second half after the teams went into break goalless.
Striker Mandeep Singh and captain Talwinder Singh had three good chances in the closing stages, but instead of playing short game the two played across allowing Odisha defenders to nullify most of their moves.
The first half saw teams testing each other not wanting to commit early mistakes, but soon after resumption, Mandeep Singh made a move and drew the first blood in the 36th minute scoring his 15th goal of the championship.
Odisha counterattacked soon after as striker Mikhal Barla slotted in equalizer in the very same minute. Rapped by the reverse, Punjab went into aggressive mode, but Ajit Pandit ended up getting a yellow card in the 43rd minute. Odisha’s Suresh Toppo too found himself on the wrong side of the umpire and picked a yellow card, but then on Odisha was businesslike.
On captain Stanli Victor Minz’s move, Amol Mirash Tirkey put Odisha ahead in the 48th minute leaving Punjab to play catch-up game then on. Though Gaganpreet Singh scored an equalizer by converting a penalty corner in the 50th minute, Odisha pressed no panic button.
Odisha was superior team on the day as they played to the plan leaving the moves carried out by Gaganpreet Singh and Talwinder Singh in disarray. Sukhdev Singh too made one good move but Odisha defenders foiled it without much of a fuss.
Two goals in a space of four minutes, first from Dilip Toppo in the 60th minute and second from Amol Tirkey left Punjab in a state of disbelief from which they never recovered.
Results (Semifinals): Odisha 4 (Mikhal Barla 36th, Amol Mirash Tirkey 48th, 64th, Dilip Toppo 60th) beat Punjab 2 (Mandeep Singh 36th, Gaganpreet Singh 50th).
Haryana 5 (Ranjit Singh 34th, 54th, Malak Singh 51st, Manish Rana 53rd, Mansraj Ramphal 63rd) beat Jharkhand 3 (Rajin Kandulna 26th, 42nd, Arvin Kujur 70th).
Thursday’s fixtures:
Third-place match: Punjab v Jharkhand – 12 noon.
Final: Odisha v Haryana – 3 pm.