Jharkhand need extra effort to edge past Maharashtra
Jharkhand entered the men’s hockey final of the 34th National Games, scraping past Maharashtra 2-1 in extra-time after their semifinal match, which was stopped at the 55th minute on Wednesday, resumed from the same position here on Thursday. Resuming the match today, which ended abruptly yesterday after it was referred to the technical committee because of a dispute over a penalty stroke, Vikas Pillay made no mistake in converting the penalty and gave Maharashtra a 1-0 lead.
But Maharashtra’s joy was shortlived as Jharkhand forward Roshan scored a superb goal to restore the parity five minutes later to take the match into extra time.
It was India player Prabodh Tirkey who gave home fans reasons to cheer when he scored the golden goal from a penalty corner to take Jharkhand into the final where they now face Punjab, who beat Services 3-2 in the other last four match.