Haryana defeat Karnataka to lift Hockey India title

Haryana today defeated Karnataka 2-1 to lift the Hockey India’s first National Men’s Championship.

Haryana’s drag flicker Sandeep Singh converted a penalty corner into a goal at the 13th minute of the action-packed match.

In the first half both teams got two penalty corners each but Haryana managed to capitalise on one of them.

At the breather, Haryana led 1-0.

After the match resumed, Karnataka got a penalty corner and its drag flicker V R Raghunath converted it into a goal, to equal the score in the 40th minute.

However, Haryana’s Mandeep Antil netted the ball at the 52nd minute to score the last goal of the match.

After down by one goal, Karnataka made some marvellous moves but fumbled to give them final touch.

Karnataka’s Goal Keeper Bharat Chettri made some brilliant saves.

Karnataka’s Raghunath scored the highest 12 goals while Haryana’s Sandeep Singh netted the ball eleven times in the tournament.

In the other clash for the third position, Punjab defeated Jharkhand 4-1.