GOA, MAPUSA: The defending champions Hockey Jharkhand, proved their mettle yet again in the tournament as they trashed Hockey Gujarat, 20-0, in the 12th Hockey India sub-junior men’s National championship played at Hockey Astro Turf, at Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa, on Sunday.
The Jharkhand side reminded their contenders that they mean business as the side scored four goals in the first quarter itself. A massive number of fouls by Gujarat was giving Jharkhand some great opportunities which they took advantage.
The second quarter was a pure display of dominance by Jharkhand outfits as they scored 6 goals in an incredible, skillful fashion. Gujarat struggled throughout the quarter with no luck for ball possession, attacking, and their defence was having a rough day.
It got tougher for the Jharkhand side as they scored 7 goals back to back, tearing the Gujarati defence in the third quarter, with great level of attacking as well as skills. In the 4th quarter Jharkhand scored 3 more goals sealing the victory to their name with a jaw-dropping score of 20-0.
In another match, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Karnataka 6-1. It was a strong start for Haryana with 2 goals, although the possession was held equally by both teams. In the second quarter Haryana scored another goal with a great display of skill and possession.
In the 3rd quarter Haryana scored 3 goals slamming into the defence of Karnataka, whereas the Karnataka side managed to score a consolation in the 36th minute through a penalty corner. Even though having a hold of 2 green cards Haryana won a spectacular game against Karnataka after scoring a final goal in the 56th minute.
Giving a great fight to the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Hockey Himachal had to sign off farewell with them. Leading by 10 goals the men in black had to sharpen their hockey bats with blood and sweat to celebrate their victory. Even though it was a tough fight between both the teams Himachals did not lay down their arms but kept their defence on. The final score was 2-13 in favour Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Hockey.
Leading the winning team with 13 goals the captain of Manipur Laishram Ribaldo Meitei (C) guided the team immensely with sheer dedication. Although Lisham Max Singh got a green card the team helped Thokchom Bikramjit Singh and Kshetrimayum Borish Singh to contribute a great hand to the game with 4 goals each. Rajasthan on the other hand didn’t duck to their defense and gave a strong fight to Mizoram.
The UP vs Tamil Nadu game was a display of total on-field dominance with Uttar Pradesh starting off with a sweet score of 3 goals and Tamil Nadu couldn’t defend them well and had overall weak possession of the quarter. The second quarter was also good for UP as they scored 4 more goals not giving the Tamil team even a slight chance to get the ball.
In the 3rd quarter, UP scored a whopping 8 goals with Manoj Yadav and Shivam Patel scoring two goals each and completely dominating the game in every way possible. The 4th quarter was also a goal-scoring spree for UP as they scored another 5 goals securing the win, Tamil Nadu struggled throughout the game but did try their very best. The End result was 21-0 with UP going victorious against the Tamil side.