Hosts Pune District Hockey Association launched their campaign in grand fashion as they pulled off a convincing 5-1 win against a resilient Goa side in the opening match of the 35th Junior (under-20)National Hockey Championship for boys and girls,organised by the PDHA(Pune District Hockey Association),under the auspices of the IHF(Indian Hockey Federation) and played at the Major Dhyanchand ground in Pimpri-Chinchwad,Nehrunagar on Saturday evening. Pramod Shingede and Deep Patel with two goals each produced a stellar performance to ensure that PDHA walked away with a victory,while Vinit Kamble netted the fifth. Bashir Tirkey got the lone goal for thelosing side. Meanwhile,Other Districts,a team comprising of players from the surrounding districts of Maharashtra,overcame Bihar 4-2 in a pool Gmatch. Earlier,Manipur got the better of Kerala 3-2 in a keenly contestedpool A encounter. M Shitananda,N Jilleie and K H Rabikanta were on target for the winners while for Naushad E and Rashman U V scored one apiece for the Kerala side. In another match from the same pool,Steel Authority of India Limited proved too strong for Rajasthan as they cruised to an overwhelming 10-0 win. Sunil Kanduna got a brace while Aijub Ekka,Jitendra Yadav,David Dung Dung,Mikhal Barla,Sushil Xalxo,Sunil Toppo,Sukhwinder Singh and Adnan Wasim chipped in with one each as SAIL romped to victory. Results:Pool A: Manipur 3 (M Shitananda,N Jilleie,K H Rabikanta) bt Kerala 2 (Naushad E,Rashman U V); SAIL 10 (Sunil Kanduna 2,Aijub Ekka, Jitendra Yadav,David Dung Dung,Mikhal Barla,Sushil Xalxo,Sunil Toppo,Sukhwinder Singh,Adnan Wasim) bt Rajasthan 0. Pool C: Pune District Hockey Association 5 (Pramod Shingede 2,Deep Patel 2,Vinit Kamble) bt Goa 1 (Bashir Tirkey ). Pool E: MPSHA 10 (Arman Qureshi 3,Kamlesh Rai 3,Shailendra B 2,Vikas Choudhray,Rana Pratap) bt Hyderabad 1 (D Praddep K). Pool G: Other Districts 4 (Samir Bhusale 3,Sagar Dhere) bt Bihar 2 (Amrendre,Satish). Sundays fixtures Boys : 1 pm: Kerala vs Rajasthan,2.45 pm: SAIL vs Manipur,4.15 pm:Himachal Pradesh vs Bihar,5.30 pm: Jharkhand vs Goa.
