Pune (Maharashtra), 19 April 2015: The 5th edition of the Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship 2015 being played in Pune, Maharashtra today saw neck-to-neck fierce battles in Division A matches. In the Pool B matches today, Hockey Jharkhand edged past Comptroller & Auditor General of India by 1-0 and Hockey Gangpur-Odisha defeated Association of Indian Universities by 3-2.

In the first match of the day in Pool B, Hockey Jharkhand edged past Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) by a narrow margin of 1-0. Both the teams fought neck-to-neck in all four quarters of the match and thwarted each other attacks. After a gruesome battle from the first minute, Jharkhand broke the momentum by scoring the lone goal of the match in the 55th minute with help of their star player Deepak Kujur, who out-foxed opponent’s defenders and hit the ball hard into the goal-box. With this only goal, Jharkhand players erupted with joy and on the other hand, CAG players went into sorrow. Jharkhand registered a crucial 1-0 victory over CAG in the Pool B match.

In the second match of the Pool B, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha defeated Association of Indian Universities (AIU) by 3-2 after a fierce competition. It was Association of Indian Universities who drew the blood first when Manpreet Singh scored the first goal of the match in 25th minute after he sneaked into opponent’s defence line and send the ball into the net. Hockey Gangpur replied with their attacking game and kept on charging. They got the first success in the 43rd minute when Amulya Minz dribbled past opposition’s defenders and scored a brilliant goal to equalise the score-line 1-1. Continuing the attacking game, Gangpur’s Rasananda Khalkho stormed into AIU’s half and hit the ball hard into the goal-box to take 2-1 lead in 51st minute. However in the next minute (52nd minute), AIU counter-attacked on Gangpur side and their star player Jatin Singh sent ball into the net without giving any chance to the goalkeeper. With this spectacular goal, AIU levelled the score-line by 2-2. The match became more intense and both the teams fought neck-to-neck in the dying minutes. Gangpur played as per their character and Deepak Lakra stunned the defenders with his speed as he ran fast into AIU’s half in the 57th minute. He managed to dribbled-past the defenders and scored brilliant goal to win the match by 3-2. AIU fought fiercely but eventually the lost the match by 2-3.

Results of the Day

Pool B – Hockey Jharkhand 1 Deepak Kujur (55min-FG) vs Comptroller & Auditor General of India 0

Pool B – Hockey Gangpur-Odisha 3 Amulya Minz (43min-FG), Rasananda Khalkho (51min-FG), Deepak Lakra (57min-FG) vs Association of Indian Universities 2 Manpreet Singh (25min-FG), Jatin Singh (52min-FG)