Senior National Hockey C'ship: Himachal edge past Kerala

Himachal came from two goals down to defeat Kerala 3-2 in a nervy Pool F encounter on the fifth day of the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division) here last evening.

It was Kerala who took a 2-0 lead after 41 minutes through D Sarang (11') and Vineeth Muraleedharan (41'). However, Himachal went on to score three quick goals in the span of seven minutes to win the match 3-2. Naurvi Ram (53', 56') scored a quick brace for Himachal while Arman (60') scored the winner in the last minute of the match.

In another Pool F match, it was Punjab National Bank who started their campaign with a win as they scored a 9-0 victory over Madhya Bharat.

The victors started the match well as they scored two goals each in the first two quarters to maintain a 4-0 lead till half-time. Punjab National Bank scored another four goals in the third quarter to kill Madhya Bharat's hopes of making a comeback.

Goals for Punjab National Bank were scored by Gagandeep Singh Sr. (15', 17'), Pardeep Mor (8'), Gagandeep Singh (28'), Summit Toppo (35'), Satender Dalal (39'), Gursimran Singh (43'), Naveen Antil (44') and Sanjay (60').

Delhi also came from two goals down to make a stunning comeback as they defeated Major Port Sports Control Board 3-2 in Pool G.

Major Port Sports Control Board started the match well as they scored two goals in the first 15 minutes through Leonard Pereira (6') and Ainul Haq (15'). However, Delhi produced an inspired comeback in the second quarter to equalise the scores as Amit (22') and Mukul Sharma (28') scored for them. Delhi then snatched the lead in the Pawan Singh Chauhan in the 44th minute, which proved to be the winner for them.

In a high-scoring encounter in Pool H, Coorg overcame the challenge put in front of them by Jammu and Kashmir as they defeated them 6-4.

Coorg started the match well as they scored four quick goals in the first quarter itself, but Jammu and Kashmir gave them a tough time in the second and third quarters as they scored three goals to make the scores 4-3 in Coorg's favour.

However, Coorg struck twice in two minutes in the last quarter to take their tally to six goals in the match, to which Jammu and Kashmir could only reply with a goal in the 59th minute. The game ended 6-4 in Coorg's favour with I A Poovanna (6', 53'), Rahul R Lokhande (15', 52'), R Punith (5') and Harish Mutagar (9') scoring for them while captain Jasprit Singh (29', 40'), Manik Sharma (38') and Prabjot Singh (59') scored for Hockey Jammu & Kashmir.

In the last Pool match for Central Secretariat, they kept their 100% record going as they won their fourth consecutive match when they beat Telangana 8-3 in Pool A.

In the first quarter, Telangana twice went behind and then twice equalised to make the scores 2-2 after just 11 minutes. However, Central Secretariat showed their quality as they struck five goals to make the scores 7-2 in their favour. Telangana could only pull one goal back in the 49th minute as the match ended 8-3 in Central Secretariat's favour.

Goals for Central Secretariat were scored by Jayesh Jadhav (33', 46', 58'), Shankar Sidharth (3', 48'), Thimmanna S Puliyanda (7', 14') and Dharambir Yadav (35') while Ramkrishna Bodigum (4'), Aravind Banothu (11') and Abhimanyu Yadav Bura (49') scored for Telangana.

--AN