As many as 79 goals were scored on the fourth day of the third Hockey India Men’s Senior National Hockey Championship as defending champions Punjab started their campaign with a 30 -0 win over Gujarat.
Tamil Nadu scored a 20-0 win over Rajasthan while Air India scored their second win on the trot, thrashing Tripura 13-0.
Vinod Rayer scored five goals for Tamil Nadu while V Shanmugam, Ashok Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Gunasekaran recorded hat-tricks. Kannan, Kiran Raje and Gnanvel scored one goal apiece to complete the rout. Rajasthan did not look like they were in the match as the Tamil Nadu attackers carved open the defence with ease, scoring goals almost for fun.
It was curtains for hosts Maharashtra as they lost their third consecutive match in Group D. Mumbai Hockey Association scored a 2- 1 victory over the hosts, dumping them out of the tournament.
Reigning champs, Punjab came out all guns blazing as they pumped in goal after goal against a shell-shocked Gujarat. Forward, Vikramjit Singh, scored seven goals for Punjab followed by Simranjit Singh who blasted six. Inderjeet Singh helped himself to five, while Sarvanjit Singh, Ravi Pal Singh, Jarnail Singh, Vikas Sharma and Sandeep Singh sounded the board on four, three, two and one occassions respectively.
Air India overwhelmed Tripura 13-0 to maintain their unbeaten run in Group B. Air India’s skipper Arjun Halappa celebrated his appointment as the selector of the Indian Men’s team, scoring a hat-trick along with Swamy Vinaya followed by braces by Vikram Pillay, Affan Yousuf and Pradhan Somanna. Subbaiah Darshan scored the final goal for Air India.
In the other group match, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy defeated Puducherry 6-1. Vikas Chaudhary and Mohammad Nizamuddin scored twice each for Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy followed by a goal each from Rinku Yadav and Raju Singh.
Sashastra Seema Bal registered their first win out of the three matches played in Group F, as they defeated Jammu & Kashmir 2-0. Vinay Bishwakarma and Gunamai Singh scored a goal each for Sashastra Seema Bal.