Tags:
Journalism of Courage
JUNE 21: In what turned out to be the most absorbing encounter of the championship thus far, fancied Punjab amp; Sind Bank held their nerves when it mattered most to hold fighting Orissa to a two-all draw for a quarter-final berth in the 30th junior National hockey championship, sponsored by Tatas, today.
The bankmen, trailing 1-2 and needing just a draw, levelled scores in injury time as Bikramjit Singh8217;s rasping hit off their last penalty corner landed in the Orissa net.
PSB made two crucial changes from the squad which edged out Chandigarh by a solitary goal on Sunday. Goalkeeper Maninder Singh and left in Ranjit Singh, who both landed in the city just a couple of hours before the commencement of the match, replaced Paramjit Singh in goal and Lakhwinder Singh respectively. Both players, just recovered from illness, justified their inclusion by performing up to the coach8217;s expectations.
The teams went on the defensive in the scoreless first session forcing one penalty corner apiece. PSB started off with a 5-3-2 formation, but after ten minutes, played with only one forward. Similarly, Orissa also played safely deputing more men in the defence.
Nine from nine: Prolific scorer Prabhakar Singh, sporting jersey No 9, pumped in as many goals in Delhi8217;s 15-0 win over Assam in Pool E. Prabhakar made mincemeat of the rivals8217; defence by slamming goals at will, in the 17th, 26th, 31st, 34th, 41st, 43rd, 50th, 53rd and 68th minutes.
Results
Pool C: PSB 2 Prabhdeep Singh 47th, drew Orissa 2 Anil Ekka 48th, Sushil Kujur 66th;
Pool D: Services 7 Paramjit Singh 3, Gabriel Herenz, Arun Minj, Basu Horo, Devki Nandan bt Nagaland 1
Pool E: Delhi 15 Prabhakar Singh 9, Sanjeet Kumar 2, Sonu 2, Raju 2 bt Assam 0;
Pool F: UP 4 Arshad Ahmed 2, Avinash Saxena, Ranjit Singh bt Manipur 0; SAIL 3 Ajit Tirkey, Saroj Dung, Nageshwar Topno bt AP 0
