Pune (Maharashtra), 13 April 2015: The ongoing 5th edition of the Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2015 (Div B) in Pune today saw the highly intense battles in the quarter-finals where Hockey Himachal, Chandigarh Olympic Association, Namdhari XI and Hockey Patiala showcased their best performance to advance to the Semi-Final match.

In the first Quarter-Final of the day, Hockey Himachal stunned Manipur Hockey by 7-6 (3-3) in Sudden Death after a highly contested match. It was Manipur who drew the first goal when they earned a Penalty Shootout in the 10th minute of the match. Premchand Singh took the shot and hit ball straight into the net to score the first match. After seven minutes (17th minute), Manipur earned a penalty corner, which was perfectly converted by Captain Banti Singh and increased the lead by 2-0. Trailing by two goals, Hockey Himachal charged back with full force and scored three back-to-back goals. Vinod Durga opened his team’s account in 18th minute when sneaked into the opponent’s D and sent the ball into the net. In the 47th minute, Naurvi dribbled past opponent’s defender and hit the ball hard into the goal-box to score the equaliser. After three minutes (50th minute), Ajay Singh scored the third goal for his team and took the impressive 3-2 lead. The match was totally in control of Himachal and they were reaching towards the victory. However, in the 57th minute, Himachal came back strongly and captain Banti scored again after out-foxing the goal-keeper. The match finished at 3-3 and eventually went to Penalty Shoot-out.

In the penalty shoot-out, both the teams finished at draw again at 3-3 (3-3). First two attempts were missed by both the teams as Manipur’s Premchand Singh and Leejohn Singh failed to beat opponent’s goal-keeper. In Himachal’s side, Rocky Lochab and Kulwant Singh couldn’t surpass the custodian. But in the next three attempts, both the teams materialised the opportunities. For Manipur, skipper Banti Singh, Dhananjoy Khangembam and Abung Singh scored goals. On the other side, Hardeep Singh, Ajay Singh and Naurvi scored goals for Himachal and equalised the score once again and took the match to Sudden Death.

Himachal’s Vikas took the first attempt and hit ball hard into the net without giving any moment to react to the goal-keeper. With his winning goal, Himachal players jumped with joy as they made another upset in the tournament and reached the Semi-final where they will face Hockey Patiala.

In the 2nd Quarter-final, Chandigarh Olympic Association thrashed Delhi Hockey by a mammoth margin of 7-0 in the one-sided match. Chandigarh was in control from the first minute of the match and they opened the account in the 18th minute when they earned a penalty corner, which was effectively converted by Gagandeep Singh. In the next minute (19th minute), Harwant Singh stormed into the opponent’s half and scored the second goal for the team. In 28th minute, Balwinder Singh scored the third goal after dribbled-past opponent’s defenders in their half. In the 38th minute, Chandigarh earned a penalty shoot-out and the specialist Gagandeep converted into the fourth goal with an ease. Balwinder stroke back and scored his second goal in the 41st minute of the match. After leading with impressive 5-0, Chandigarh scored the last two goals in 46th and 53rd minute with the help of Gurjinder Singh and Navdeep Singh. With the 7-0 victory over Delhi, Chandigarh reached the Semi-final phase where they will meet Namdhari XI.

In the 3rd Quarter-final, Namdhari XI defeated Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) by 3-2 (1-1) in a match decided by Penalty Shoot-out after 1-1 score-line. It was Namdhari XI who scored the first goal of the match when they earned a penalty corner in 12th minute, which was perfectly converted by Avtar Singh. After conceding the goal, CISF displayed a brilliant performance and kept on attacking on their opponent’s half. After a hard-fight, they got the success in the 60th minute when skipper Cyril Ekka sneaked into the defence line and scored the outstanding equaliser. The match went to the penalty shoot-out and Namdhari XI played as per their strength and converted two attempts into goal with the help of skipper Kuldeep Singh and Bishan Singh. For CISF, only captain Cyril managed to convert an attempt as rest of the players couldn’t beat the goal-keeper. With the 3-2 (1-1), Namdhari XI reached the Semi-Final match, where they will face Chandigarh Olympic Association.

In the 4rth Quarter-Final match between Hockey Patiala and Vidarbha Hockey Association, it was Hockey Patiala who outwitted the opponents to reach the semi-finals tomorrow where they are set to clash against Hockey Himachal. Knowing the importance of today’s match both teams gave a tough fight to each other in the entire of first half wherein the scores were tied at 1-1. Action started in the second half as Vidarbha Hockey Association took the lead in the game in the 44th minute when Akbar Khan deflected the ball into the nets. Hockey Patiala bounced back immediately as in the 47th minute when Amandeep Singh scored the equaliser and score read 2-2. The next minute (48th minute), Hockey Patiala took the lead as Taranjit Singh converted the penalty corner opportunity leaving the opponents stunned. Not giving a chance to Vidarbha Hockey Association to come back into the game Hockey Patiala increased the lead in the 59th minute with Arjun Singh scoring through a field goal. The goal helped seal their fate with a win of 4-2 and advancing to the semi-finals, where they will face Hockey Himachal.

Results of the Day-

QF 1 – Hockey Himachal 3 Vinod Durga (18min-FG), Naurvi (47min-FG), Ajay Singh (50min-FG) vs Manipur Hockey 3 Premchand Singh (10min-PS), Banti Singh (17min-PC, 57min-FG); Penalty Shoot-out – Hockey Himachal 3 Hardeep Singh, Ajay Singh, Naurvi vs Manipur Hockey Banti Singh, Dhananjoy Khangembam, Abung Singh; Sudden Death Hockey Himachal 1 Vikas

QF 2 – Chandigarh Olympic Association 7 Gagandeep Singh (18min-PC, 38min-PS), Harwant Singh (19min-FG), Balwinder Singh (28min-FG, 41min-FG), Gurjinder Singh (46min-FG), Navdeep Singh (53min-FG) vs Delhi Hockey 0

QF 3 – Namdhari XI 1 Avtar Singh (23min-PC) vs Central Industrial Security Force 1 Cyril Ekka (60min-FG); Penalty Shoot-out – Namdhari XI 2 Kuldeep Singh, Bishan Singh vs Central Industrial Security Force 1 Cyril Ekka

QF 4 – Hockey Patiala 4 Ajay Kumar (10min-FG), Amandeep Singh (47min-FG), Taranjit Singh (48min-FG), Arjun Singh (59min-FG) vs Vidarbha Hockey Association 2 Akbar Khan (2min-FG, 44min-FG)