Mysore (Karnataka), 17 April 2015: Continuing to put up a good show on the grounds of Mysore, the twelve teams showcased a challenging fight on the fourth day of the 5th Junior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Men) ‘’A’’ division today.

Hockey Punjab began the day on a winning note as they defeated Services Sports Control Board 4-1 which was followed by an intense battle between Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Hockey Maharashtra where the former beat the latter with a close 4-3. Hockey Odisha joined the winning teams as they trounced Manipur Hockey 6-1 in the third match. The fourth match concluded in favour of Hockey Karnataka against Hockey Bhopal 3-2. Fifth match ended with a win for Hockey Jharkhand over Sports Authority of India 10-2. Whereas, the last match concluded the day with victory for Hockey Himachal against Hockey Chhattisgarh 3-0.

The first match of Pool A witnessed an excellent win 4-1 by Hockey Punjab against Services Sports Control Board. The first half of the match was dominated by Hockey Punjab with 3 goals scored without giving a chance to the opponents to strike any shot. The excitement in the game was raised in the 1st minute of the game itself with a smashing field goal coming from Ajmer Singh of Hockey Punjab who also managed to score another field goal in 17th minute taking the team to a 2-0 lead. Continuing with the good show, Hockey Punjab got another field goal in their kitty coming from Simranjeet Singh in the21st minute of the game. It was only in the 53rd minute that Bishram Dodray of Services Sports Control Board managed a goal for his team after continuous efforts. However, with another field goal in the 66th minute by Ajit Pandit, Hockey Punjab announced their triumph today by 4-1 against Services Sports Control Board.

The second match of the day witnessed a nerve-wrecking clash between Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Hockey Maharashtra where the former overcame the latter with a narrow margin of 4-3. Both the teams made some impressive forays to pierce the defence of the other team. It was Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy who got its initial breakthrough as early as the 9th minute coming from the stick of Modh Nizamuddin. Post the early setback, Hockey Maharashtra bounced back in the game as they managed to breach the opponent’s defence and bagged two goals through the field efforts of Jay Singh Dulla and Ajinkya Jadhav in the 14th and the 18th minute respectively. This took the score to 2-1 in favour of Hockey Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy bounced back in the game as Arjun Sharma capitalized on the penalty corner in the 26th minute followed by a beautiful field goal in the 37th minute taking the score 3-2 in their favour. Hockey Maharashtra made a comeback in the game with the support of Aniket Gurav in the 56th minute, levelling the scores at 3-3. Just two minutes in the game to end, it was Arjun Sharma of Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy who added the third goal to his personal tally and the winning goal for his team through a penalty corner conversion in the 68th minute which gave Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy a well deserved win over Hockey Maharashtra 4-3.

The third match of Pool B teams was dominated by Hockey Odisha as they took on Manipur Hockey. Although Manipur Hockey made a wonderful start by scoring the first goal in the 6th minute of the match but failed to score any goals further in the entire match. Hockey Odisha’s Suman Kujur scored two goals in the 18th and the 42nd minute. The team gained full support from Nitin Mukesh Tigga in the 22nd and 60th minute taking the scores to 4-1 in favour of Hockey Odisha. Hockey Odisha did not stop here as Sumit Toppo and Sudhir Kujur shared one goal each in the 65th and 69th minute declaring a convincing win for Hockey Odisha against Manipur Hockey 6-1.

It was a close competition between Hockey Bhopal and Hockey Karnataka in the 4th Match of the day which brought a triumph for Hockey Karnataka with a score of 3-2. The first half of the match itself offered a cut throat competition as a field goal by Karnantaka‘s M.D. Raheel in the 12th minute of the game started the day’s proceedings. Soon, Hockey Bhopal got a chance to make a comeback when Amir-UR-Rehman smashed a beautiful field goal in the 26th minute. It was then the very next minute that Vasanth Kumar Y.G of Hockey Karnataka won another field goal for the team and placed the team in a leading position 2-1 by the end of the first half. The second half of the match witnessed a goal each from both the teams where a penalty corner was converted by Harsahl Sharma of Hockey Bhopal in the 41st minute followed by a winning field goal by the Captain of Hockey Karnataka Somaiah Kuppanda in the 60th minute allowing win the match after a well fought battle.

The fifth match turned out to be a one- sided affair as Hockey Jharkhand enjoyed a good session through the match and gave a tough fight to Sports Authority of India. As early as in the fifth minute of the game, Hockey Jharkhand opened its score card through the Captain Nitesh Kiro by a penalty corner conversion. Sports Authority of India managed to score two goals for themselves with the contribution of Patras Kujur and Ajay Yadav in the 20th and the 22th minute correspondingly post which they failed to add any further goals to their account. On the other hand Hockey Jharkhand started their onslaught post their first goal as Nitesh Kiro again added another goal to the tally in the 26th and going on to score again in the 34th, 42nd and 60th minute taking the team to a very strong position. Premchand Kongari for Hockey Jharkhand scored a brace in the 29th and 55th minute coming from a field effort. Hockey Jharkhand was seen high spirits as Buddu Tuti made no mistake and notched two goals for his team in the 51st and 52nd minute. With this Hockey Jharkhand completed a tally of 10 goals to claim a thumping win over Sports Authority of India 10-2.

In the last match between Hockey Himachal completely dominated the match against Chhattisgarh Hockey as they went onto win the game by 3-0. Hockey Himachal started the game with speed by attacking and trying to put pressure on the opponents. Their persistent attacked yielded results in the 23rd minute Jugraj Singh hammered the ball to convert the penalty corner opportunity. Within two minutes the team got another go at the penalty corner and Jugraj did not mistake again in putting the ball into the nets, taking the lead to 2-0. Second half and Hockey Himachal in their bid to seal the game in their favour added one more to the tally in the 50th as Abhishek score through a field effort with 3-0 on the board, Hockey Himachal registered an easy win.

Results of the day-

Pool A Hockey Punjab 4 Ajmer Singh (1 min, 17min-FG), Simranjeet Singh (21 min-FG), Ajit Pandit (66min) vs Services Sports Control Board 1 Bishram Dodray (53min-FG)

Pool A Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 4 Modh Nizamuddin (9min- FG), Arjun Sharma (26min- PC, 37min- FG, 68min- PC) vs Hockey Maharashtra 3 Jay Singh Dulla (14min- FG), Ajinkya Jadhav (18min- FG), Aniket Gurav (56min- FG)

Pool B Hockey Odisha 6 Suman Kujur (18min- PC, 42min- PC), Nitin Mukesh Tigga (22min- FG, 60min- FG), Sumit Toppo (65min- FG), Sudhir Kujur (69min- FG) vs Manipur Hockey 1 Mani Huidrom (6min- FG)

Pool B Hockey Karnataka 3 M.D. Raheel (12 min-FG),Vasanth Kumar Y. G (27min-FG),Somaiah Kuppanda (60min-FG) Vs Hockey Bhopal 2 Amir-Ur-Rehman (26min-FG), Harsahl Sharma (41min-PC)