Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2015: highly intense battles in the Pool matches

The 5th edition of the Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2015 (Div A) sees intense battles among Top Teams

- All India Sports Promotion Board outplays Hockey Odisha 5-2

- Sports Authority of India held by Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 2-2

- Comptroller & Audit General of India edges past Association of Indian Universities 2-1

- Hockey Jharkhand defeats Hockey Bhopal 4-2

- Uttar Pradesh Hockey thrashes Services Sports Control Board 5-1

- Hockey Haryana beats Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 6-1

Pune (Maharashtra), 17 April 2015: The ongoing 5th edition of the Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2015 (Div A) in Pune today saw the highly intense battles in the Pool matches where All India Sports Promotion Board outplayed Hockey Odisha by 5-2 and Sports Authority of India held by Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy by 2-2 draw in Pool A matches. In other matches, Comptroller & Audit General of India edged past Association of Indian Universities by 2-1 in Pool B and Uttar Pradesh Hockey thrashed Services Sports Control Board by 5-1 in Pool C.

In the first match of Pool A today, All India Sports Promotion Board (AISPB) outplayed Hockey Odisha by 5-2 after a hard-fought tussle. AISPB opened the account in the 10th minute of the match when Arman Qureshi scored the first goal of the match. AISPB maintained their attacking game and Shivendra Singh scored the second goal of the match just after two minutes (12th minute). Trailing by 0-2, Hockey Odisha counter-attacked on their opponents and Rajin Kandulna scored the first goal for his team in 29th minute. His team-mate Deepak Lugun displayed a brilliant stick-work and scored the equaliser in the 32th minute. At 2-2 score, AISPB speed-up their attack and earned a penalty shoot-out in 43rd minute, which was perfectly converted by Arjun Halappa, leading the match by 3-2. AISPB managed to earn another penalty corner in the 52nd minute and this time Gaganpreet Singh converted it with an ease. With 4-2 score, AISPB was controlling the game, without giving any space to their opponent. Vikas Vishnu Pillay scored the fifth goal for his team in the 57th minute and registered a thumping 5-2 victory over Hockey Odisha.

In the second match of Pool A, Sports Authority of India (SAI) was held by Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy at 2-2 draw in a neck-to-neck battle. After a stern tussle in the half-time, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy stunned their opponents when they scored the first goal of the match in 44th minute with Vikas Choudary's stunning goal and took an early 1-0 lead in the match. However, their joy was short-lived as SAI came back aggressively and Basavraj scored the leveller just after three minutes (47th minute). Conceding the goal, Vikas attacked counter-attacked again with his speedy run and hit the ball hard into the goal-box without giving any chance to the goal-keeper. With Vikas' surprise goal, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy was in lead again by 2-1. SAI maintained their strategic game and kept attacking from all sides. Manpreet got the success in the 55th minute when he scored the second goal of the match to level score by 2-2. Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy played above their level and stunned SAI with their brilliant performance.

Pool B Match between Comptroller & Audit General of India (CAGI) and Association of Indian Universities was a tight match as while both the teams looked for scoring opportunities the defence played a great role as they kept the opponents at bay. It was the former which took the win with a lead of a goal and the end of the match score read 2-1. Comptroller & Audit General of India were the first to break the shackles as they scored in the 5th minute when MD Naeemuddin deflected the ball past the goalkeeper to open the score for his team. Post the initial goal the rest of the first half session proved to be a dry run and Comptroller & Audit General of India lead the game 1-0 at the end of the first half's play. Entering the second half Association of Indian Universities successfully equalized the game in the 37th minute coming from the stick of Harsahib Singh leaving Comptroller & Audit General of India stunned as they lost the lead. Not wasting much time Comptroller & Audit General of India struck again as they took the lead in the 48th minute and which went on to be the winning goal for them.

In the second match of Pool B, Hockey Jharkhand defeated Hockey Bhopal by 4-2. The match started with a brilliant display of stick-work of Jharkhand's Anup Topno's who scored two back-to-back goals in 2nd and 14th minute of the match and gave an early lead of 2-0. In the 26th minute, Noyel Dodrai scored the third goal through a penalty corner conversion and extended the lead by 3-0. Maintaining the domination, Jharkhand scored the fourth goal in the 40th minute with the help of Mahesh Kumar who efficiently converted a penalty corner. Trailing by 0-4, Hockey Bhopal managed to counter attacked on the opponents with full force and Shadab Haseeb scored the first goal for his team in the 59th minute of the match. In the next minute (60th minute), Osaf-ur-Rahman scored the second goal for his team through a penalty corner conversion. Till the final whistle, Hockey Jharkhand won the match by 4-2.

In the Pool C match, start-studded Uttar Pradesh Hockey thrashed Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) by a margin of 5-1. Uttar Pradesh dominated the whole match and scored goals in regular intervals. Their star player Lalit Upadhyay opened the account in the 6th minute of the match, when he sneaked into the opponent's half and scored a brilliant goal. In the 15th minute, Arjun Yadav increased the lead after dribbling past opponent's defenders and scored a spectacular goal. Leading by 2-0, Uttar Pradesh continued their dominant game and this time veteran player Tushar Khandkar managed to out-fox the defenders to score an inspiring goal in the 39th minute. In the 43rd minute, Lalit attacked again and scored his second goal in the match, taking the lead to 4-0. In the 54th minute, Amir Khan scored the fifth goal for Uttar Pradesh and gave a massive lead of 5-0. In the 50th minute, Services Sports Control Board showed some resistance and Mukesh Lakra scored the lone goal for his team.

In the second match of Pool C, Hockey Haryana beat Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu by 6-1 in the one-sided battle. Hockey Haryana earned a penalty corner in the 6th minute of the match and Gagandeep Singh converted it perfectly to give an early 1-0 lead to his team. In the 12th minute, Jagwant Singh extended the lead with his second goal. Harayana scored the third goal in the 14th minute of the match with help of Amit Kumar. Tamil Nadu showed some resistance and scored their first & only goal in the 30th minute with the help of Laxman Karan. In the next few minutes, Haryana came back strongly and they scored three back-to-back goals. Arjun, Amit Kumar and Ranjit Singh scored goals in 40th, 46th and 55th minutes respectively and registered a thumping victory over Tamil Nadu.

Results of the Day-

Pool A - All India Sports Promotion Board 5 Arman Qureshi (10min-FG), Shivendra Singh (12min-FG), Arjun Halappa (43min-PS), Gaganpreet Singh (53min-PC), Vikas Vishnu Pillay (57min-FG) vs Manipur Odisha 2 Rajin Kandulna (29min-FG), Deepak Lugun (32min-FG)

Pool A - Sports Authority of India 2 Basavraj (47min-FG), Manpreet (55min-FG) vs Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 2 Vikas Choudary (44min-FG, 48min-FG)

Pool B - Comptroller & Audit General of India 2 MD Naeemuddin (5 min-FG), Nitin Timmaiah (48 min-FG) vs Association of Indian Universities 1 Harsahib Singh (37 min-FG)

Pool B - Hockey Jharkhand 4 Anup Topno (2min-FG, 14min-FG), Noyel Dodrai (26 min-PC), Mahesh Kumar (40min-PC) vs Hockey Bhopal 2 Shadab Haseeb (59min-FG), Osaf-ur-Rahman (60min-PC)

Pool C - Uttar Pradesh Hockey 5 Lalit Upadhyay (6min-FG, 43min-FG), Arjun Yadav (15min-FG), Tushar Khandkar (39min-FG), Amir Khan (54min-FG) vs Services Sports Control Board 1 Mukesh Lakra (60min-FG)

Pool C - Hockey Haryana 6 Gagandeep Singh (6min-PC), Jagwant Singh (12min-FG), Amit Kumar (14min-FG, 46min-FG), Arjun (40min-FG), Ranjit Singh (55min-FG) vs Hockey unit of Tamil Nadu 1 Laxman Karan (30min-FG)

SCHEDULE FOR - 17 APRIL 2015 (Friday)