New Delhi, 22 May 2015: The day started on a competitive note as the teams registered their respective wins to enter the semi-finals of the 5th Sub Junior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Men) ‘A’ Division today at New Delhi. Hockey Odisha and Hockey Karnataka team will be seen battling it the first Semi-Final clash whereas, Hockey Haryana will clash against Hockey Gangpur-Odisha team in second Semi- Final for the day

The day witnessed a set of intense clashes where Hockey Gangpur-Odisha drubbed Hockey Punjab 5-2. This was followed by a win for Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, they beat Chhattisgarh Hockey 2-1.The third match saw Hockey Jharkhand dominating Hockey Andhra Pradesh and winning by 12-0. In the fourth and last match, Hockey Karnataka outplayed Hockey Maharashtra by 8-0.

In the first match of the day in Pool C, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha defeated Hockey Punjab 5-2. The game started with confidence showed by both the teams where the two teams were continuously looking to penetrate the defence of the other. It was Hockey Punjab who broke the shackles and scored a field goal in the very first minute of the game through Captain Dilpreet Singh. The game got levelled in the 10th minute as Hockey Gangpur Odisha scored through the stick of Biraj Topno. Within a span of five minutes, Albert Tete for Hockey Gangpur Odisha took the lead to 2-1 as he successfully converted a penalty corner in the 15th minute of the game. Maintaining their scoring momentum, Rahul Ekka and Prakash Dhir added a field goal each to Hockey Gangpur-Odisha’s account in the 18th and 32nd minute respectively and further advanced the scores to 4-1. Hockey Punjab finally got an opportunity to enter the opponent’s D through a penalty corner conversion by Varinder Singh to reduce the margin by 2-4. Very successful in capitalizing every scoring opportunity, the fifth goal was netted by Albert Tete in the 43rd minute who took Hockey Gangpur-Odisha to a winning score of 5-2 and will now be playing the semi-finals tomorrow.

The Pool C match between Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh Hockey witnessed the former team dominating the latter by 2-1 and emerging as winners. Chhattisgarh Hockey started off brilliantly by scoring the first goal of the match in the 16th minute coming from the stick of Gurpeert Singh. In search of an equalizer, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu answered back through A. Alan Rubenraj who efficiently converted into a penalty corner in the 25th minute .The scores were locked at 1-1 at the end of the first half. In the second half Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu turned the match in their favour by scoring their second goal in the 46th minute which was netted by S. Pandiarajan and going on to win the match by 2-1.

In Pool D match, Hockey Jharkhand defeated Hockey Andhra Pradesh by a whopping score line of 12-0. Noel Topno’s spectacular four field goals, Jen Soreng’s hat-trick, braces by Captain Patras Kujur and Subal Kerketta contributed to this massive score line. Sunil Xaxa opened the account for Hockey Jharkhand in the 4th minute by a brilliant field goal. Immediately, it was followed by another field goal in the 5th minute by Captain Patras Kujur and the scorecard read 2-0 in their favour. Following his team mates, Subal Kerketta scored a brilliant brace in the 29th and 32nd minute taking the score to 4-0. Jen Soreng, slipped past the opposition’s defence and scored a stunning field goal in the 40th minute. Noel Topno scored another field goal in the 41st minute taking the tally 6-0. Dominating Hockey Andhra Pradesh, Hockey Jharkhand increased their tally to 10-0 with the help of Captain Patras Kujur’s field goal in the 48th minute and Noel Topno’s successive goals in 62nd, 64thand 65th minutes. Hockey Jharkhand decimated Hockey Andhra Pradesh by two consecutive goals in the 68th and 69th minute by Jen Soreng, taking the final goal score to 12-0.

In the Pool D match, Harish S Mtuagar’s four goals and Nagaraj M’s two goals helped Hockey Karnataka defeat Hockey Maharashtra by 8-0. Hockey Karnataka controlled the match from the first minute and Nagaraj scored the first goal in the 9th minute. Harish took the charge and scored two back-to-back goals in 10th and 28th minutes of the match. Leading by three goals, Binit Karo, Nagaraj and Harsha S added three more goals in 36th, 38th and 50th minutes respectively to increase the score-line by 6-0. Harish struck again and scored two quick goals in 51st and 53rd minutes to help his team to register a 8-0 win over Hockey Maharashtra and enter the all important semi-finals tomorrow.

RESULTS OF THE DAY-

Pool C Hockey Gangpur-Odisha 5 Biraj Topno (10min- FG), Albert Tete (15min- PC, 43min-FG), Rahul Ekka (18min- FG), Prakash Dhir (32min- FG) vs Hockey Punjab 2 Dilpreet Singh (1min- FG), Varinder Singh (39min- PC)
Pool C Hockey Chhattisgarh 1 Gurpeert Singh (16min-FG) vs Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 2 A. Alan Rubenraj (25min-PG), S.Pandiarajan (46min-FG)

Pool D Hockey Jharkhand 12 Sunil Xaxa (4 min-FG), Patras Kujur (5 min-FG, 48 min-FG), Subal Kerketta (29 min-FG, 32 min-FG), Jen Soreng (40 min-FG, 68 min-FG, 69 min-FG), Noel Topno (41 min-FG, 62 min-FG, 64 min-FG, 65 min-FG) vs Hockey Andhra Pradesh 0

Pool D Hockey Karnataka 8 Nagaraj M (9min-FG, 38min-FG), Harish S Mtuagar (10min-FG, 28min-FG, 51min-FG, 53min-FG), Binit Karo (36min-FG), Harsha S (50min-FG), vs Hockey Maharashtra 0