Hockey Punjab first to enter quarterfinals; Hockey Karnataka, Hockey Chandigarh log second wins
HOCKEY PUNJAB became the first team on Monday to make it to the quarterfinals in the 11th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship Pimpri-Chinchwad 2021 being held at Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium, Nehrunagar-Pimpri.
Hockey Karnataka and Hockey Chandigarh remained unbeaten and stayed on the course of quarterfinal berths registering second wins, respectively. Hockey Karnataka downed Le Puducherry Hockey 4-1 in Pool-C while Hockey Chandigarh edged out Manipur Hockey 1-0 in Pool- E.
In a Pool-D encounter, Hockey Punjab scored a 7-1 win over Hockey Andhra Pradesh to remain unbeaten in a group reduced to three teams after Hockey Andaman and Nicobar failed to turn up for the championship.
Hockey Punjab began their match with India international and 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Rupinder Pal Singh (2nd) converting his team’s second penalty corner.
Thereafter, Hockey Punjab displayed a collective show with Lovepreet Jainth (5th); Ranjot Singh (19th), Sudarshan Singh (29th) sounding the board. Hockey Andhra Pradesh surprised Hockey Punjab when Venkata Sreee Arjipineni Balaji (26th) scored to end the first half 4-1.
Changing ends, Parampreet Singh (40th), Sankalp Singh (42nd) and Sudarshan completed the tally.
Earlier, Hockey Punjab beat Hockey Uttrakhand on Day 1 of the competition and now have a game against the no-show Andaman and Nicobar.
Hockey Punjab (6 points) qualified for the knock-out stage, while Hockey Andhra Pradesh who lost their first match bowed out.
In Pool-E, Hockey Chandigarh found their hero in Amandeep (42nd) en route a 1-0 win over Manipur Hockey.
Manipur Hockey, coming off the back of a massive win over Tripura Hockey in their first match, fell to a deft deflection by Hockey Chandigarh’s Amandeep in the third quarter which stood to be the decider.
Hockey Chandigarh remains unbeaten and now have 6 points to their name. Hockey Manipur and Hockey Rajasthan have 3 points each.
In another match in Pool-E, Hockey Rajasthan defeated Tripura Hockey 18-0 after Vijendra Singh (25th, 28th, 40th, 48th, 50th, 57th) putting on a six-star effort.
In an all-South zone Pool-C clash, Hockey Karnataka downed Le Puducherry Hockey 4-1 in the opening match of Day-3. A goal in each quarter of the encounter did the job for Hockey Karnataka. Harish Mutagar (5th) opened the scoring before S Deekshith P (25th) made it 2-0 at halftime. S Deekshit’s goal was memorable as it logged the 150th goal of the tournament.
Shamanth Cs (40th) and Pavan Madivalar (49th) completed the tally. Hockey Karnataka has 6 points after 2 matches.
In another Pool-C match, Hockey Jammu and Kashmir downed Hockey Arunachal 10-3 for their first win. Hockey Arunachal has lost both their matches.
There was a last-second drama in the last match of the day. In a Pool-B game, Delhi Hockey scored seconds from the final hooter to defeat Hockey Madhya Pradesh 3-2. Braj Gopal (60th) deflected the ball home from close to seal the issue
Earlier, Dheeraj Vats (29th) and Md. Altaf (48th) scored for Delhi Hockey while Ravi Rajbhar (13th) and Ayush Pethe (58th) netted for Hockey Madhya Pradesh
