Hockey: Hosts meet Jharkhand in 2nd quarterfinal today
If there is anything that stands between host Maharashtra and a semi-final spot, it is their inclination to experiment as the match progresses rather than sticking to a pre-mediated plan. The hosts waste chances galore as has been seen during the league campaign of the 1st Hockey India Junior Men’s National Hockey Championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex astro-turf.
Maharashtra meets Jharkhand in the second quarterfinal on Monday. Earlier, the hosts beat Tripura 8-0 in the opening match, defeated Jammu and Kashmir 6-0 before edging past Himachal Pradesh by a solitary goal. The performances of the host team has not been very convincing while Jharkhand have shown great adaptability to the conditions.
Beating Jharkhand will depend on two factors, one, team’s adaptability towards the situations and, two, the crowd support, something that still rankles the state players who were beaten by rooting Jharkhand fans in the National Games semifinal.
“We still have those memories fresh in our minds. We need to take that as an inspiration and go on the field with positive mind,” said team manager Sagar Singh Thakur.
Skipper Devendra Walmiki needs to give others a chance to take penalty corners instead of putting himself for the job. Variation in technique is a must to unsettle the opponents.
In other quarterfinal matches, Punjab meets Bihar; Karnataka takes on Odisha and Haryana squares off against Madhya Pradesh which is being touted as ‘the match’ of the championship.
Haryana beat Gujarat 17-0
In the last set of league matches on Sunday, all of them inconsequential in terms of quarterfinal qualification, Haryana beat Gujarat 17-0 with Malak Singh firing a quadruple and six goals in total.
Malak opened the scoring in the second minute of the game before Naveen Sangwan scored a brace to make it 3-0. Malak took over from there and began his goal binge in the 26th minute. Goals rained one after another in the 28th, 29th and 31st minute as the hapless Gujarat had no answer to Haryana strikers.
Monday’s Fixtures:
Quarterfinals: Bihar V/s Punjab – 9 am; Jharkhand V/s Maharashtra -11.30 am; Karnataka V/sOdisha -1.30 pm; Haryana V/s Madhya Pradesh – 4 pm.