Punjab’s men team reached the finals of the National Games with a narrow victory (3-2) over fighting Services in the semis even as the other semifinal remained undecided.
The ongoing National Games hockey event suffered for want of discipline from both crowd and a section of players, aided ably by the not-so-competent umpires. On a day four semifinals were scheduled, men and women included, the crowd was jam-packed, and considering the emotions with the hosts team, any small incident had the trappings to tiger volatile protest. Exactly the same happened.
A penalty stroke award against the hosts’ team, Jharkhand about 15 minutes before the hooter set off events which led to the match to be abandoned at that stage. The crowd did not allow the match beyond, throwing whatever they had in hand on the field, and the Jharkhand players doing nothing to calm the crowd.
With score levelled at 1-1, the match had to be abandoned, and it is expected that the remaining 15 minutes game will be played tomorrow morning against empty stands.
In the second match, the reigning champions Services fought gallantly before going down by an goal margin against the Punjab.
Dhananjay Mahadik converted Services’ first penalty corner before Dharamvir unleashed a backhand from top of the circle to equalize.
Punjab posted the winning goal through conversion of its last penalty corner, its fifth.
Services had three PCs in trot close on the finishing moments, but the Punjab defence stood solid to walk away with the match.
The finals will be played on 25th.