Sr National M: Railways emerge worthy champions

Pune (Maharashtra), 28 April 2015: Indian Railways won the 5th Hockey India Senior National Hockey Championship, as the defeat Uttar Pradesh 5-3 in the highly-contested final here.

In the Position match, Air India outplayed Gangpur-Odisha 5-3 to finish at third in the tournament.

It was Railways was determined today to be the Champions, as they convincingly beat Uttar Pradesh Hockey 5-3.

Starting the game with dominance, Railway Sports Promotion Board scored the first goal just nine minutes into the game as the team got a penalty stroke and which was successfully slapped into the nets by Amit Rohidas. Looking at taking the lead further, Railway Sports Promotion Board found success in the 17th minute as a field effort by Talwinder Singh took the score to 2-0.

Amit Rohidas was again seen in action in the 21st minute as he brilliantly scored through a field goal. Uttar Pradesh Hockey looking at stopping the onslaught by the opponents finally scored through a penalty corner in the 25th minute as Sunil Yadav did no mistake in finding the goal box. This did not deter the spirits of Railway Sports Promotion Board as they added two more goals before the end of first half, taking scores to 5-1 in their favour.

The second half was more an effort by Uttar Pradesh Hockey as they worked towards bouncing back into the game. They scored two consecutive goals in the 38th and 39th minute giving themselves hope of making a comeback. But Railway Sports Promotion Board ensured that no further goals were scored by the opponents as they went on to win the Championship by 5-3.

For the 3rd/ 4th Place, Air India Sports Promotion Board (AISPB) outplayed Hockey Gangpur-Odisha by 5-3 in a hard-fought battle with the help of Sameer Dad’s brilliant brace. Sameer opened the account in the 5th minute with his spectacular goal. His team-mate Vikram Pillay extended the lead in the 27th minute with another display of team-work. Conceding two goals, Gangpur-Odisha’s captain Roshan Minz sneaked into opponent’s half and sent the ball into the net. In the 17th minute, Sameer scored another goal and equalised the score-line by 2-2.

In the 33rd minute, Gangpur received penalty shoot-out, which was perfectly converted by Pratap Lakra and took the score-card 3-2. AISPB came back strongly and their star player Arman Qureshi hit the ball hard into the goal-box in the 49th minute.

In 56th minute, they earned a penalty corner and Gaganpreet Singh converted it effectively into the fifth goal of his team. Trailing by 2-5, Gangpur counter-attacked on AISPB’s side earned a penalty shoot-out in 58th minute. This time again, Pratap Lakra converted it perfectly and reduced the losing margin by 3-5. With this win, AISPB finished the tournament at the respectable 3rd Place.

Individual Awardees

Best Goalkeeper: Arpit Choudhary (Jharkhand)

Best Defender: Amit Rohidas (Railways)

Best Mid-fielder: Jasjit Singh (Railways)

Best Forward: Lalit Upadhyay (Uttar Pradesh)

Promising player of the Championship: Vikramjit Singh (Punjab)

Promising player from Maharashtra: Akash Chikte (Goalkeeper)

Results of the day:

Final – Railway Sports Promotion Board 5 Amit Rohidas (9min-PS, 21min-FG, 29min-PC), Talwinder Singh (17min-FG), Affan Yusuf (27 min-FG) vs Uttar Pradesh Hockey 3 Sunil Yadav (25min-PC, 38min-PC), Amir Khan (39min-PC)

3rd/4th Place – All India Sports Promotion Board 5 Sameer Dad (5min-FG, 17min-FG), Vikram Pillay (8min-FG), Arman Qureshi (49min-FG), Gaganpreet Singh (56min-PC) vs Hockey Gangpur – Odisha 3 Roshan Minz (15min-FG), Pratap Lakra (33min-PS, 58min-PS)