GWALIOR: Punjab, Railway Sports Promotion Board, Mumbai, Gangpur-Odisha, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Air India, Haryana and Karnataka defeated respective opponents on the fourth day of the 9th Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship 2019 (A Division) in Gwalior on Sunday.
In Pool A, Punjab registered their third win of the competition as they defeated Chandigarh 3-1. Goals for Punjab were scored by Sukhdev Singh (2’), Ramandeep Singh (25’) and Rupinderpal Singh (41’), while Arshdeep Singh (11’) scored Chandigarh’s only goal of the match.
In the other Pool A match, Mumbai secured a 3-1 win over Association of Indian Universities to register their first win of the competition. Goals for Mumbai were scored by Arman Qureshi (15’), Vedprakash Bhatt (42’) and Pawan Rajbhar (59’), while Association of Indian Universities’ solitary goal of the match came in the 26th minute through Lovejeet Singh.
Pool B saw Petroleum Sports Promotion Board defeat Comptroller & Auditor General of India by a fine margin of 5-0.
Goals for Petroleum Sports Promotion Board were scored by Devindar Walmiki (59’, 60’), Affan Yousuf (4’), Harmanpreet Singh (13’) and Lalit Upadhyay (38’).
Later Haryana defeated Bhopal 4-1. Goals for Haryana were scored by captain Bharat (9’, 39’), Manpreet (1’) and Yashdeep Siwach (49’) while Bhopal’s captain Mohd Khan (43’) was the sole goalscorer for them.
In Pool C, it was Railway Sports Promotion Board who secured a hard-fought 1-0 win against Punjab & Sind Bank to register their third win. The other Pool C match saw Gangpur-Odisha register their first win of the competition as they beat Uttar Pradesh Hockey 4-3.
In a Pool D fixture, Air India defeated Odisha 6-3 while Karnataka who secured a last-gasp winner against Namdhari XI to secure their second victory of the competition.
DELHI GIRLS ADVANCE
Delhi and UCO Bank Women’s Hockey began their campaign with victories in the 9th Hockey India Senior Women National Hockey Championship 2019 (B Division) in progress in Haryana.
Delhi defeated Tripura 2-0 in a well-fought encounter. The match saw Delhi take the lead in the 9th minute as Neha struck a field-goal to open the scoring. Tripura tried to put pressure on their opponents in the search of an equalizer, but it was Delhi who scored their second goal against the run of play, as Sarita converted a Penalty Corner in the 36th minute to make it 2-0. Meanwhile, UCO Bank beat Gujarat 4-2. Gujarat scored twice in the last quarter through Shivangi Solanki (49’, 56’). Goals for the victors were scored by Rajni (10’, 25’) and Manisha Dhayal (18’, 38’).
