SPORTS REPORTER
JAMMU: Mumbai, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Dadra and Nagar Haveli emerged winners in today’s scheduled league ties of the ongoing Sub-junior National Hockey (boys) Championship, organised by Hockey Jammu and Kashmir at K K Hakku Stadium, here.
In the first match of the day, Dadra and Nagar Haveli trounced Bhopal by a narrow margin of 2-1. Dadra and Nagar Haveli got its breakthrough in the initial 11th minute of the game through Nilesh Kathoute’s field effort. As Bhopal was unable to capitalize on any scoring opportunities in the first half, the scores stood at 1-0.
The second half of the game started with same poise and Nilesh Kathoute of Dadra and Nagar Haveli again struck a brilliant field goal in the 49th minute which doubled the team’s lead to 2-0. However, it was in the last minute (69th minute) that Bhopal finally broke the shackles and opened its account through a penalty corner conversion by Yasir Jafri, reducing the margin to 1-2 but it was too late to fight back.
Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd thrashed Assam Hockey 7-3 with the help of Shreyas Dhupe’s spectacular hat-trick and Ameen Rogay’s brilliant brace. The Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd dominated the match from the first minute and Ameen scored a goal in 6th minute, followed by a penalty conversion in the ninth minute of the match.
After conceding two goals from Ameen, Assam counter attacked and Arjun Bhagat hit the ball hard into the goal-box to take the score-line 1-2. Mumbai fought back and earned a penalty corner in 29th minute, which was perfectly converted by skipper Tikaram Thakulla.
After the goal, Assam again counter-attacked and Manish Sahani scored two back-to-back goals in 33rd and 39th minute to equalise the score on board 3-3. From here, Mumbai played a marvellous hockey, and Shreyas and Parneet Naik scored a goal each in 47th and 50th minute respectively. Leading 5-3, Mumbai’s star player Shreyas scored two more goals in 54th and 59th minute thereby helped the side register a thumping 7-3 victory.
In another scheduled match, Madhya Pradesh outwitted Kerala Hockey 6-2. Both the teams were seen playing defensively but it was Madhya Pradesh who drew its first blood in the early nine minutes of the game when captain Vijay Yadav slapped the nets of the other team.
Making full use of the penalty corner awarded in the 24th minute, Arun Pal surged ahead and converted it into a goal to double the lead to 2-0. Madhya Pradesh did not stop here and kept attacking the opponent’s D as Vijay Yadav bagged the third goal for his team in the 30th minute followed by two beautiful field goals by Rishabh Anand Kushwaha and Kuwer Singh Marvi in the 35th and 42nd minute respectively to take the lead at 5-0.
It was then Kerala Hockey who displayed wonderful stickwork which gave them their first goal through a penalty corner conversion by Athulc in the 51st minute. Denying to give away easy scoring to the opponents, Rishabh Anand Kushwaha in the 54th minute scored a field goal to increase the margin by 6-1 in the dying minutes of the game, Amal Augustine.
The last match of the day was an exciting affair as Uttarakhand trounced Rajasthan 5-3. . Both the teams made constant efforts to pierce the defence of the other in search of an initial opening and it was Uttarakhand who took the lead in the 18th minute through Sumit Kumar. Taking the lead to 2-0, Keshav Sharan scored the second goal in the very next 19th minute in favour of Uttarakhand.
Providing much needed support to his team, Sumit Kumar struck two consecutive goals in the 23rd and 24th minute advancing the lead to 4-0. Rajasthan showcased brilliant on- field skills and attacked the opponent’s defence in the 38th minute when Sahil Tiwari converted a penalty stroke to open the team’s score card. Star player Sumit Kumar added the fifth goal in support of Uttarakhand in the 43rd minute which was very well answered by Himanshu Sharma of Rajasthan who struck a brace in the 54th and 62nd minute reducing the margin to 3-5. But, the match concluded in favour of Hockey Uttarakhand.
FIXTURE: League Round: Assam V/s Goans Hockey at 6:00 AM; Himachal Pradesh V/s Bihar at 7:30 AM; Gujarat V/s Patiala at 9:00 AM; Rajasthan V/s Puducherry at 10:30 AM; Vidarbha V/s J&K at 4:30 PM.
