Chandigarh men win title,eves fail to cross final hurdle

Harmeet Singh's strike in the 64th minute helped Chandigarh beat Punjab in the final to claim the 3rd Hockey India sub-junior men national championship (north Zone) played at Sonepat,Haryana,on Monday.

Harmeet Singh’s strike in the 64th minute helped Chandigarh beat Punjab in the final to claim the 3rd Hockey India sub-junior men national championship (north Zone) played at Sonepat,Haryana,on Monday. Both the teams were locked at 1-1 and the match seemed to be going towards a draw when Harmeet scored to help his team win the title.

With some impressive performance in the tournament,both Chandigarh and Punjab were strong contenders for the title. The final match,as expected,turned out to be a nail-biting one. Both the teams made their intensions clear by going all attacking. The first 20 minutes saw defenders of both the teams having a tough time in keeping the opponents at bay. But some fine goalkeeping by the respective goalkeepers kept the scoreboard undisturbed.

However,the deadlock did not last long as Punjab took the lead in the 20th minute of the match. The goal was scored through Kawaljit Singh who showed some fine dribbling skills before guiding the ball past the Chandigarh keeper to make it 1-0. Stung by the goal,the Chandigarh players upped their tempo and they made some attacking moves. One such move resulted in the Chandigarh team scoring the equaliser just three minutes later. Manjinder Singh,who had a good time in the tournament,sounded the board to make it 1-1,as both the teams went into the breather with pride intact.

After the break,it was the Chandigarh team who looked more dangerous in front of the goal. If not for some weak attempts and some brillianr defending from the Punjab team,the Chandigarh team could have scored atleast two goals. The Chandigarh players soon continued to make surge into the opposition half and deservedly got the lead in the 64th minute. Harmeet’s strike emerged as the difference between the two side,as Chandigarh players kept their nerves and won the match.

After the men,the Chandigarh eves also had a chance to win the title but they went down fighting to Haryana,1-3,in the final of the 3rd Hockey India sub-junior women national championship (North Zone).

Two early goals by Udita- in the 14th and 24th minutes- unsettled the Chandigarh team and they never recovered from the initial shock. Haryana were leading 2-0 at the half time. Anjali provided a ray of hope of a comeback for Chandigarh by scoring in the 50th minute. However,Navpreet Kaur sounded the board in the 61st minute to take the match out of Chandigarh’s reach.

Navneet Kaur of Haryana has scored maximum number of goals (9) in the championship.

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Also,Hockey Maharashtra entered the final of the West Zone junior hockey after outplaying Rajasthan 5-1 at Mumbai Hockey Association Limited Ground.

Hockey Maharashtra scored through Alaknanda (8,53),Own Goal (47),Aishwarya Chavan (59) and Bhavana Khade (65),while Rachna Challan (22) scored the only goal for Rajasthan.

In another semi-final,Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy registered a 12-0 victory over Chhattisgarh. MPHA,who led 5-0 at the half time,scored through Upasana Singh (16),Jyoti Pal (19,69),Preet Dubey (24,26),Akanksha Parmar (29,34,41),Karishma Yadav (33),Suman Devi (38),Brajnandini Dhuriya (61) and Rakhi Prajapati (64).

MPHA and Hockey Maharashtra will play the final on Tuesday.

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