Punjab, Haryana win hockey titles

K. KEERTHIVASAN

The Haryana women celebrate winning the hockey final against Jharkhand. Photo: M. Moorthy
The residents of Morhabadi turned up in large numbers on Friday to fill the astro-turf hockey Stadium to support their State men’s and women’s teams competing in the finals.

Competing in both the sections for the first time in the history of the National Games, the spectators, expectedly, cheered the teams lustily.

However, for the thousands of spectators, it turned out to be an evening to forget as the Jharkhand men’s and women’s teams lost to Punjab and Haryana in the finals of the 34th Jharkhand National Games. While the Punjab men blanked Jharkhand 2-0, the Haryana women outplayed the host 3-1.

Though the intensity from the gallery was high, the same could not be said about the quality on the field. Though the pace was quick and the energy of the players was high, mis-passes and poor finishing affected the contest.

Ravi Pal Singh (55th minute) put Punjab ahead when he pushed a high ball into the net off a penalty corner. Jharkhand’s forwardline of Roshan Minz, Bikas Toppo and Horo Belsezer ran hard and fast. The deep defence, comprising Innocent Kullu and William Xalco, functioned effectively initially but floundered as the match wore on.

Sarvanjit Singh made it 2-0, making ample use of the gaps to angle the ball home and leave three defenders stunned.

The Haryana women’s triumph was thanks to a brace from Surinder Kaur. The visitor scored twice within four minutes of the start when Surinder and Joydeep Kaur converted.

Jharkhand reduced the margin through Kanti Baa. Her clean strike off a penalty corner sounded the boards. Haryana, however, closed the door on Jharkhand when Surinder scooped one past a diving goalkeeper after trapping a neat pass from the centre by Jaspreet Kaur.

In table tennis, top seed A. Sharath Kamal of Tamil Nadu defeated Raj Mondal of West Bengal in straight games to enter the final.

Sharath will meet West Bengal’s Anirban Nandi, who defeated second seed R. Abishek (Tamil Nadu) in the quarterfinals and Sourav Chakraborty (West Bengal) in the semifinals. The Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Arjun Munda, gave away the hockey prizes.

The results: Men: Hockey: Punjab 2 (Ravi Pal Singh, Saravanjit Singh) bt Jharkhand 0; Women: Haryana 3 (Surinder Kaur 2, Joydeep Kaur) bt Jharkhand 1 (Kanti Baa).