Early exit for Delhi in Junior National Men’s Hockey
Ritu Sejwal
NEW DELHI: After losing its second consecutive match, Delhi made an early exit from the 2nd Junior National Men Hockey Championship being held at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi on Sunday.
Delhi went down fighting to young Jharkhand 1-2 in a Pool D match. Delhi’s Pawan Singh Chauhan put the team in lead in the 15th minute through field goal. But, Delhi boys failed to keep pace with the game as they conceded two goals in the second half.
For Jharkhand, Agile Arvind Kujur scored the equalizer in the 50th minute through a penalty corner, before rounding off the tally with a field goal in the 66th minute.
In another match of the day, Ajeet Pandit struck six goals, including a hat-trick to fashion Himachal Pradesh’s 14-1 win against Rajasthan in a Pool H league match.
The win brightens Himachal Pradesh’s chances of making it to the quarterfinals.
Ajeet struck in the 11th, 16th, 27th, 36th, 36th, and 62nd minutes as winners led by 6-0 at the half time. Teammates Gyanpreet and Taran Deep complimented Ajeet with two goals each while Balram, Prashant, Hardeep and Harmandeep scored a goal each. For Rajasthan, Harjeet Singh struck the consolation goal in the 51st minute.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh was up against Goa and Suresh Babu emerged star performer as Andhra Pradesh routed Goa 9-0 in Pool F. Suresh scored four goals including a hat-trick.
Manikanta, Sai, Venkata Rami Reddy and Pradeev scored a goal each. An own goal by Goa also marked the introduction of the new rule in keeping with FIH rules.
Last year’s finalists Odisha had a tough start to the championship as they had to struggle to beat Manipur 3-1 in Pool B.
The tie, however, lived up to the expectations as both teams gave it their all in the 70-minute encounter. Alsem put Odisha ahead in the seventh minute and Bikash extended the lead in the 20th minute for the team to lead 2-0 at the break.
Manipur staged a comeback with a field goal through Amarjeet (66th minute) but Bikash struck a second time two minutes from the hooter to ensure team’s victory.
Bihar and Puducherry played a 2-2 draw in pool H. Daisan (1st minute) and Veerathamizhan (50th) scored for Puducherry while Ravi Kumar (8th) and Surendra Yadav (28th) slotted the ball home to give Bihar the lead that it held for more than 20 minutes.