Junior National Hockey Championship 2015: teams showcased brilliant on-field skills

Another exciting day of hockey at the 5th Junior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Men) Division A

- Hockey Haryana trumped Uttar Pradesh Hockey 4-3

- Steel Plant Sports Board blanks Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 7-0

- Hockey Himachal beat Sports Authority of India 5-1

-Hockey Jharkhand drubbed Chattisgarh Hockey 12-3

New Delhi, 16 April 2015: In the 5th Junior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Men) Division A, the teams showcased brilliant on-field skills and sealed respective wins against their opponents today at Mysore, Karnataka.

The first match witnessed an exciting game of hockey where Hockey Haryana registered their first win by defeating Uttar Pradesh Hockey 4-3. This was followed by Steel Plant Sports Board who picked up a win against Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 7-0. The third match between Hockey Himachal and Sports Authority of India was a thrilling one as the former beat the latter by 5-1. Concluding the day on a winning note, Hockey Jharkhand drubbed Chattisgarh Hockey 12-3.

In the first match of Pool C, Hockey Haryana registered a win against Uttar Pradesh Hockey with a narrow margin of 4-3. Both the teams played a strategic game and did not give away the scoring prospects to the other team easily. Hockey Haryana looked to score from the onset and were rewarded for their efforts in the sixth minute of the game when Sanjay capitalised on the penalty corner to put his side on the lead. Vikas made it 2-0 and struck a field goal in the ninth minute taking the score to 2-0. Intending to open their scorecard, Uttar Pradesh Hockey went on attack in the 11th minute of the game as Dharambir Yadav converted a penalty stroke to reduce the margin by 2-1. It was Dharambir Yadav again who scored an equalizer in the 16th minute and levelled the scores at 2-2. Hockey Haryana's Rajant notched up the score to 3-2 and scored a field goal in the 32nd minute before going into the break and giving his team the lead. Vikas added the second goal to his personal tally and scored the fourth goal for Hockey Haryana in the 42nd minute through a field effort. Trailing by two goals, Uttar Pradesh Hockey struck when Rahul Kumar Rajbhar hit a consolation goal for his team and took the scores to 4-3. With this, Hockey Haryana sealed a convincing win against Uttar Pradesh Hockey 4-3.

The second match for the day was dominated by Steel Plant Sports Board as they took on Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu. While Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu started well by good attack and defence they finally faltered in the 20th minute when Steel Plant Sports Board opened the account when Anand Kumar Kujur scored a field goal. Capatin Jiwan Bhengra doubled the lead for his team in the 23rd minute which was again through field effort. Steel Plant Sports Board added one more to the tally before ending the first half and the score read 3-0. The dominance by Steel Plant Sports Board continued as they added four more goals coming in the 38th, 39th, 61st and 67th minute and taking a convincing win over Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 7-0.

In the third match of the day, Hockey Himachal beat Sports Authority of India 5-1 to seal its first win in the tournament. Hockey Himachal proved to be the dominating side as the opponents were able to score a lone goal in the dying minutes of the match. The initial lead was taken by Hockey Himachal through Abhishek Raghuvanshi who scored the opening goal in the 17th minute of the game. Badal Chaudhary doubled the lead in the 26th minute and took the scores to 2-0. To complete the tally in favour of Hockey Himachal, Harmandeep Singh, Sonu Kumar and Abhash Sharma scored in the 34th, 40th and 45th minute respectively and took the lead to 5-0. Sports Authority of India finally got a breakthrough in the 64th minute through a field goal by Ajay Yadav but it did not affect the concluding result as Hockey Himachal managed to claim a comfortable win against Sports Authority of India 5-1.

The last match for the day was a one sided affair as Hockey Jharkhand convincingly beat Chattisgarh Hockey 12-3. Captain for the team, Nitesh Kiro led for the front as he struck five times to take his team to a string position. Hockey Jharkhand gave the first blow to the opponents as early as the 5th minute when Captain Nitesh Kiro struck a brilliant field goal. This was followed by two consecutive goals in the 8th and 9th minute as Hockey Jharkhand took the score to 3-0. Hockey Chattisgarh managed to open their account in the 18th minute as Wasiullah Khan capitalised on the penalty corner and goal took the score to 3-1 in the favour of Hockey Jharkhand. Before the end of first half Hockey Jharkhand added two more goals to their tally and ended the first half at 5-1 in their favour. The second half rang good news again for Hockey Jharakhand as they continued their onslaught which reaped positive results. The team scored seven goals as compared to the two added by Chattisgarh Hockey and winning the game on a high.

Results of the day-

Pool C Hockey Haryana 4 Sanjay (6min- PC), Vikas (9min- FG, 42min- FG), Rajant (32min-FG) vs Uttar Pradesh Hockey 3 Dharambir Yadav (11min- PS, 16min-FG) Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (59min- FG)

Pool C Steel Plant Sports Board 7 Anand Kumar Kujur (20 min-FG), Jiwan Bhengra (23 min-FG), Meet Singh Thakur (25 min-FG), Felix Baa (38 min-FG), Janma Majhi (39 min-PC, 67 min-FG). Saroj Kumar (61 min-FG) vs Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 0

Pool D Hockey Himachal 5 Abhishek Raghuvanshi (17min- FG), Badal Chaudhary (26min- FG), Harmandeep Singh (34min- FG), Sonu Kumar (40min- FG), Abhash Sharma (45min- FG) vs Sports Authority of India 1 Ajay Yadav (64min- FG)

Pool D Hockey Jharkhand 12 Nitesh Kiro (5 min-FG, 23 min-FG, 26 min-PC, 38 min-PC, 53 min-PC), Premchand Kongari (8 min-FG, 46 min-FG), Soma Bhengra (9 min-FG, 35 min-FG), Buddu Tuti (43 min-FG, 63 min-FG), Jen Soreng (61 min-FG) vs Chattisgarh Hockey 3 Wasiullah Khan (18 min-PC), Rahul Yadav (37 min-FG), Kartik Yadav (40 min-PC)

TODAY'S SCHEDULE (17th April 2015)