Punjab go down fighting to Indian XI

Chandigarh, Nov 2 (UNI) Spirited Punjab gave a tough resistance to Indian Hockey Team before going down fighting by 2-3 in an exhibition hockey match played at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar today.

The match was played on a very fast note. The Punjab boys under the captainship of Olympian Rajpal Singh displayed controlled hockey. The Indian team under the captainship of Sardar Singh, though won the match but failed to impress.

In the 7th minute of the play Indian team’s S V Sunil scored the field goal (1-0). In the 10th minute Punjab’s Jaskaran Singh equalized with a field goal from the right flank ( 1-1).

One minute after resumption, Punjab took lead with penalty corner conversion by Harpreet Singh Nagra (2-1).

After that Punjab gave no room to the Indian squad. In the last minutes of the game they were not able to stop Indian forwards. In the 68th minute S K Utthappa scored the field goal to equalise (2-2).

In the dying moments of the game, Dharamvir Singh snatched the match winning goal from left flank (3-2).

The second and last exhibition match will be played tomorrow at 0900 hours at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium Jalandhar. Hockey Punjab General Secretary and MLA Jalandhar Cantonment Padam Shree Pargat Singh will be the chief guest of the match.