Pune (Maharashtra), 21 April 2015:
Teams continue to wage tough battle for top places in the Sr National in Pune
In Pool B, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha outwitted Hockey Jharkhand by 4-2 and Comptroller & Auditor General of India beat Hockey Bhopal by 4-2. In the Pool C matches, Hockey Maharashtra trounced Hockey Haryana by 4-1 and Uttar Pradesh Hockey won 6-2 against Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu. In Pool D clashes, The Mumbai Hockey Association defeated Hockey Karnataka by 2-1 and Food Cooperation of India held Railway Sports Promotion Board by 1-1.
In the Pool B match, the first half of the match between Hockey Gangpur-Odisha and Hockey Jharkhand rained goals from both sides as each scored two goals each to keep the scores tied at 2-2 at the end of first half. Hockey Gangpur-Odisha kept their nerves intact to take the lead and win the game by 4-2. The match started with both teams attacking and trying to put pressure on each other. Hockey Gangpur-Odisha immediately took the lead in the 2nd minute when captain Roshan Minz scored through a field goal. This was followed by Wilson Minz doubling the score for his team in the 10th minute as a pass to him in D was put past the goalkeeper. With the lead of 2-0, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha was placed in a comfortable position and started looking for another goal. But Hockey Jharkhand looking at coming back into the game opened their account in the 15th minute through Captain Chandrashekhar Xalxo who made mistake in cashing on the penalty corner opportunity. Within five minutes the captain equalized the game through another penalty corner that the team got to their name. With the game tied at 2-2 the second half was important for both the teams as they looked at accelerating the momentum and winning the match. Hockey Gangpur- Odisha broke defence of Hockey Jharkhand to take the lead in the 53rd minute as Roshan Minz scored through the penalty corner. Increasing the goal difference, Hockey Gangpur- Odisha scored their fourth goal in the 57th minute and sealing the fate of opponents through the goal.
The second match of Pool B yielded same results as the first with a 4-2 scorecard and this time it was Comptroller & Auditor General of India beating Hockey Bhopal 4-2. Comptroller & Auditor General of India started the day with two consecutive goals in the 6th and 8th minute coming from the sticks of MD Naeemuddin and Imran Khan respectively. Comptroller & Auditor General of India went on to increase the goal difference further as they scored the third goal in the 27th minute when a penalty corner was slammed into the nets taking the scores to 3-0. Trailing the game, Hockey Bhopal found success in the 36th minute when a penalty stroke given to the team was completed by Osaf-Ur-Rahman. Within two minutes Comptroller & Auditor General of India struck their fourth goal as Imran Khan found the nets. Hockey Bhopal managed to add another goal and the game ended in favour of Comptroller & Auditor General of India. v
The Pool C match of the day saw Hockey Maharashtra dominating the match and registering an easy 4-1 win over Hockey Haryana. Both teams keeping a steady attack on each other were successful in scoring a goal each in the first half resulting in the scores ties at 1-1. Action was seen in the second half as Hockey Maharashtra started the session by scoring in the 39th minute as Vinit Kamble scored through a field effort. The team added another goal in the 42nd minute with Navneet Swarnkar capitalising on a clean pass and taking the score to 3-1. Continuing their pressure Hockey Maharashtra scored their fourth goal in the 56th minute when the penalty corner was converted by Ashish Chetty helping his team take an easy win over the opponents.
The first half of the Pool C match between Uttar Pradesh Hockey and Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu was completely dominated by the former as they successfully scored four times and leading the game 4-0 at the end of first half. It was Sunil Yadav who scored all the four goals as he successfully capitalised on the penalty corners. The team continued their dominance as right into the second half Uttar Pradesh Hockey scored their fifth goal when Lalit Upadhyay scored through a field effort. Hockey Unit Tamil Nadu finally found success in the 45th minute when captain M Vinod Rayar scored for the team. Adding one more goal each before the game ended, resulting in a 6-2 win for Uttar Pradesh Hockey.
In the Pool D match between The Mumbai Hockey Association and Hockey Karnataka was a evenly contested match as each gave tough competition to the other and looking at registering a win on their name. The first half witnessed tough battle which yielded just the sole goal by The Mumbai Hockey Association in the 17th minute as Devinder Walmiki scored on the penalty corner. With the score at 1-0 in favour of The Mumbai Hockey Association, Hockey Karnataka equalised the game in the 48th minute as Pradhan Somanna beat the goalkeeper and put the ball into the goal box. With the game tied, The Mumbai Hockey Association realized that the game might slip from their hands and they increased the tempo of attack and scored in the 55th minute coming from the stick of Victo Singh. This proved to be the final goal for the match and The Mumbai Hockey Association won 2-1.
In the last match of the day, Food Cooperation of India (FCI) held Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) by 1-1 in the Pool D clash. Both the teams displayed a brilliant hockey and fought neck-to-neck to win the match. It was FCI who drew the first blood in 17th minute when their star player Munish Rana sneaked into opposition’s half and hit the ball hard into the net to take an early lead in the match. After conceding the goal, Railway Men played an attacking game with more aggression and kept on charging on FCI’s half. In the 33rd minute, they managed to earn a penalty corner and Amit Rohidas converted into a goal perfectly to equalise the score-line 1-1. Both the teams continued tussled with each other but failed to score the winning goal and the match eventually finished at 1-1 score.
Results of the day:
Pool B – Hockey Gangpur-Odisha 4 Roshan Minz (2 min-FG, 53 min-PC), Wilson Minz (10 min-FG), Bikash Toppo (57 min-FG) vs Hockey Jharkhand 2 Chandrashekhar Xalxo (15 min-PC, 20 min-PC)
Pool B – Comptroller & Auditor General of India 4 MD Naeemuddin (6 min-FG), Imran Khan (8 min-FG, 38 min-FG), Chandan Singh (27 min-PC) vs Hockey Bhopal 2 Osaf –Ur- Rahman (36 min-PS, 58 min-FG)
Pool C – Hockey Maharashtra 4 Vishal Pillay (20 min-PC), Vinit Kamble (39 min-FG), Navneet Swarnkar (42 min-FG), Ashish Chetty (56 min-PC) vs Hockey Haryana 1 Arjun (35 min-FG)
Pool C – Uttar Pradesh Hockey 6 Sunil Yadav (2 min-PC, 17 min-PC, 30 min-PC, 35 min-PC), Lalit Upadhyay (36 min-FG), Deepak Yadav (50 min-FG) vs Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 2 M Vinod Rayar ( 45min-FG), V Raja (51 min-FG)
Pool D – The Mumbai Hockey Association 2 Devinder Walmiki (17 min-PC), Victo Singh (55 min-FG) vs Hockey Karnataka 1 Pradhan Somanna (48 min-FG)
Pool D – Food Corporation of India 1 Munish Rana (17min-FG) vs Railway Sports Promotion Board 1 Amit Rohidas (33min-PC)