MP take the fight out of Pondicherry

For Pondicherry KP Jayees sounded the board in the 12th minute. Kerala notched up their first win from Group H over Assam with Hakkim striking thrice in the third, 40th and 56th minutes. Praveen Kumar increased the lead striking twice (42nd and 54th minutes) while SK Sen, Ajith and Ramesh Chippe in with a goal each.

Earlier in the morning, Bengal had defeated Central Reserve Police Force 2-1 from Group-H and look set to top their group.

Central Excise prevailed over Delhi 3-1 while Karnataka registered a hard fought 4-2 win overTatas.

MP, who lost to fancied Air-India in their opening group-1 league match, showed signs of improvement in their attacking tacties, but not before their rivals took the lead. Pondicherry took the lead in the 12th minute through Jayees’ goal.

Stunned by the reverses, MP retaliated and scored the equaliser in the 29th minute with Rajesh Henri scoring off a Dalveer Singh pass. MP forced four penalty corners in the second half but failed to convert even one as their penalty conversion was very poor.

In the 61st minute MP scored their second goal which which turned out to be the match-winner through penalty stroke converted by Dalveer Singh. In a totally one-sided encounter, Kerala completed their league formalities with an emphatic 8-0 win over Assam.

Tomorrow’s fixtures: TN vs Bhopal, MP vs PSB, CRPF vs Assam, Patiala vs Manipur, Central Excise vs Madhya Bharat, Tatas vs Delhi, Pondicherry vs Universities.

PSB players suspended

HYDERABAD: Bhupinder Singh and Baljit Singh Chandi of Punjaband Sind Bank were slapped two and one match suspension respectively while international Baljit Singh Saini was severely warned for “manhandling” Pondicherry player Balamurugan in a late last night league match in the PSB-SBI 59th Senior National Hockey championship.

Tournament director Mohammad Ghouse, after a meeting held late this afternoon, took note of the proceedings from both the umpire, the table umpire and the technical office.

The incident took place ten minutes before the long hooter when Balamurugan accidentally hit Bhupinder Singh. Bhupinder retaliated and the latter sustained a head injury. Bhupinder was shown the first red card of the championship.