Pune (Maharashtra), 10 April 2015: The 5th edition of the Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship 2015 being played in Pune, Maharashtra today saw dominating matches from the top sides and few closely-fought matches in Division B. In the fifth day, Hockey Patiala defeated Chhattisgarh Hockey by 8-2, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association edged past Hockey Puducherry by 2-0 and Chandigarh Olympic Association thrashed Hockey Bihar by 6-3. Bengal Hockey Association registered a major victory over Hockey Gujarat, beating them by hug margin of 7-1. In the last match of the day, Hockey Madhya Pradesh stunned Major Port Sports Control Board by 1-0.

In the first match of the day, Hockey Patiala outplayed Chhattisgarh Hockey with a huge margin of 8-2 in a Pool E league match. Patiala’s start player and penalty corner specialist Jagpal Singh scored a hat-trick through penalty corners. His team-mates Ajay Kumar and Harwinder Singh also played brilliantly and scored two goals each for the team. Patiala opened the account in the 4th minute when they earned a penalty corner, which was perfectly converted by Jagpal Singh for his first goal. After six minutes (10thminute), Jagpal converted another penalty corner and increased the lead by 2-0. In the 26th minute, Ajay Kumar dribbled past opponent’s defenders and sent the ball in the goal-box to score third goal for his team. In another penalty corner in 35th minute, Jagpal didn’t give any chance to the opponents and hit the ball hard into the net to score his hat-trick. After two minutes (37th minute), Ajay Kumar scored another goal and took the score-line to 5-0. In the 43rd minute, Harwinder Singh scored sixth goal for his team. Trailing by 0-6, Chhattisgarh mustered some courage and their skipper Upendra Pillay scored the first goal for his team in 50th minute. With this encouraging goal, his team-mate Manish Yadav hit another goal after two minutes (52nd minute) and took the score-card to 2-6. However, after conceding two goals in three minutes, Patiala came back in the game strongly and Manjinder Singh and Harwinder Singh scored one goal each in 53rd and 59th minutes respectively. By the final whistle, Patiala won the match by 8-2.

In a Pool G match, Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association edged past Hockey Puducherry by 2-0. Though Puducherry players showed some brilliant skills, the whole match was dominated by Dadra & Nagar Haveli who thwarted all the attempts of their opponents and didn’t allow them to score goals. Dadra & Nagar Haveli got their first success in 30th minute when Neeraj scored a brilliant goal for his team and helped his team to take 1-0 lead. In 47th minute, Dadra & Nagar Haveli earned a penalty corner, which was successfully converted by skipper Amrit Kiro extended the lead by 2-0. In the rest of the match, Dadra & Nagar Haveli managed to control the match and eventually registered a 2-0 win over Puducherry.

In another Pool G match, Chandigarh Olympic Association thrashed Hockey Bihar by 6-3 with the help of Gagandeep Singh and Ranwant Singh’s brilliant braces. Chandigarh opened their account with a penalty corner in 4th minute of the match, which was perfectly converted by their star player Gagandeep and took the early lead. In the 22nd minute, Ranjodg Singh extended the lead when sneaked into opponent’s defence and hit ball into the goal-box to second goal for his team. Trailing 0-2, Bihar players counter-attacked on their opponent’s half and Sanjay Tirkey sent the ball in the net to score the first goal for his team. After conceding the goal, Chandigarh’s Ranwant Singh scored two back-to-back goals in 34th and 38th minutes to increase the lead by 4-1. However, in the 45th minute, Bihar managed to earn a penalty corner and Satish Herenj converted it in his team’s second goal. In the 53rd minute, Chandigarh received a penalty shoot-out and this time again, Gagandeep converted it perfectly to score-line 5-2. His team-mate Harwant Singh increased the lead by his brilliant goal just after three minutes (56th minute). Bihar’s Rakesh Roshan Ekka scored the final consolation goal for his team in 60th minute and finished the match at 6-3 score-card.

In the Group D league match, Bengal Hockey Association thumped down Hockey Gujarat by a huge margin of 7-1. Atanu Saha, Pramod Kumar Singh and Suprajit Rakshit led the charge with their braces and win the match for their team. Bengal’s Atanu opened the account with his marvellous goal in the 4th minute of the match. His teammate Mohd. Shoeb Khan extended the lead after he managed to dribble past opponent’s defenders and scored the second goal in 20th minute. In the 33rd minute, Bengal earned a penalty corner and their specialist Pramod Kumar converted it perfectly in their third goal for their team. After six minute (39th minute), Bengal’s star player Suprajit scored his first goal after out-foxing the defenders and sending the ball into the net to take the score-line 4-0. Trailing by four goals, Gujarat players showed some resistance and counter-attacked on their opponents. Aashish Dave took the charge of the attack and scored the first goal for his team in the 48th minute. After receiving the surprise shock, Bengal players Atanu and Suprajit scored two back-to-back goals in 52nd and 53rd minutes respectively and increased the lead to 6-1. Specialist Pramod Kumar stroke back again in 58th minute to score the seventh goal by converting another penalty corners and helped his team to beat Gujarat by 7-1.

In the last match of the day, Hockey Madhya Pradesh struggled hard to beat Major Port Sports Control Board (MPSCB) by a close margin of 1-0 in a Pool H match. Both the teams fought-hard to control the ball and dominate the match, which gave many nail-biting moments to the spectators. With the highly intense game, both the teams didn’t allow their opponent to score goals in the first half. Madhya Pradesh got the break-through in the 47th minute when they managed to earn a penalty corner and their star player Mayank Jemes converted it perfectly in the first goal of the match. In the rest of the match, MPSCB failed to score the equaliser and eventually lost the match narrowly by 0-1.

Results of the Day

Pool E – Hockey Patiala 8 Jagpal Singh (4min-PC, 10min-PC, 35min-PC), Ajay Kumar (26min-FG, 37min-FG), Harwinder Singh (43min-FG, 59min-FG), Manjinder (53min-FG) vs Chhattisgarh Hockey 2 Upendra Pillay (50min-FG), Manish Yadav (52min-FG)

Pool G – Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association 2 Neeraj (8min-FG), Amrit Kiro (47min-PC) vs Hockey Puducherry 0

Pool G – Chandigarh Olympic Association 6 Gagandeep Singh (4min-PC, 53min-PS), Ranjodg Singh (22min-FG), Ranwant Singh (34min-FG, 38min-FG), Harwant Singh (56min-FG) vs Hockey Bihar 3 Sanjay Tirkey (26min-FG), Satish Herenj (45min-PC), Rakesh Roshan Ekka (60min-FG)

Pool D – Bengal Hockey Association 7 Atanu Saha (4min–FG, 52min-FG), Mohd Shoeb Khan (20min-FG), Pramod Kumar Singh (33min-PC, 58min-PC), Suprajit Rakshit (39min-FG, 53min-FG) vs Hockey Gujarat 1 Aashish Dave (48min-FG)
Pool H – Hockey Madhya Pradesh 1 Mayank Jemes (47min–PC) vs Major Port Sports Control Board 0