Journalism of Courage
Maharashtra strikers crushed Tripura 8-0 to open its account in Pool G on a high note on the opening day of the 1st Hockey India Junior National Mens hockey championship at the Balewadi Complex turf on Sunday.
On a day when Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh and Punjab pulverized their opposition with huge goal margin,Maharashtras win over Tripura was low-scoring given that the host got so many scoring chances,but equal number of fouls spoiled their day.
Harjeet Singh (6th,28th),Upendra Pillay (11th,56th) and Nitin Kumar (16th,60th) scored two goals apiece while Ankur Patel (21st) and Shivkumar Renjarla (33rd) were the other scorers.
The day overall was a goal feast as 71 goals were recorded in five matches,which included Uttar Pradeshs one-sided 20-1 result over Kerala.
Earlier,Mandeep Singh fired a quintuple after opening the scoring against Puducherry leaving the team from south in a state of daze as Punjab goals rained in before the northerners won 16-0 in a four-team Pool H match. Mandeep opened his account in the 3rd minute of the game and pumped in four more in a row as he completed the first hat-trick of the championship before even bettering that.
The Punjab strikers other goals for the quintuple came in the 4th,7th,12th and 21st minutes. He went on to score two more,in the 27th and 69th minutes to immediately go to the top of the charts in the top scorers list.
Puducherry was no match to Punjab,who never let go any loose ball. Eight more players added their names to the scoring chart after having led 9-0 at the half-time.
