By Balbir Singh
BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018:: Hosts Hockey Karnataka, Hockey Haryana and Hockey Punjab secureD their second consecutive wins while Hockey Odisha and Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu played out a 2-2 draw on the second day of the 3rd Hockey India 5-a-side Senior National Championship 2018 (Men) here today.
In the first Pool B match of the day, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Maharashtra 6-4 to register their second consecutive victory in the competition. It was Hockey Maharashtra who took a two-goal lead inside the first four minutes but Hockey Haryana made a great comeback to end the first period with scores level at 3-3. However, Hockey Haryana produced the goods in the second period and secured a 6-4 win with Jagwant Singh (8th, 9th), Manpreet (11th, 20th), Gagandeep Singh (5th) and Bharat (12th) scoring the goals. Whereas, it was Sayyad Niyaz Rahim (4th, 15th), Taleb Shah (2nd) and skipper Tyron Pereira (5th) who scored for Hockey Maharashtra.
In the other Pool B match, Hockey Odisha and Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu played out a 2-2 draw. It was the latter who took the lead in the match as J Joshua Benedict Wesely scored in the 11th minute, but Hockey Odisha responded with two goals in the 13th and 14th minutes through Ashis Topno and Teophil Kujur respectively. But with a minute remaining on the clock, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu equalized through J Joshua Benedict Wesely as the match finished 2-2.
In Pool A, Hockey Punjab defeated Hockey Jharkhand 6-3 to register their second consecutive win of the competition. Hockey Punjab ended the first period with a three-goal advantage but their opponents made it tough for them in the closing stages as six goals were scored in the last four minutes of the match. Goals for Hockey Punjab were scored by Jaskaran Singh (4th, 9th, 20th) and skipper Satbir Singh (9th, 18th, 20th) while Noyel Topno (17th, 18th, 20th) scored a quick-fire hat-trick for the losing team.
In the second Pool A match, hosts Hockey Karnataka came from behind to secure an emphatic 8-4 victory over Uttar Pradesh Hockey. The victory saw Hockey Karnataka retain the top-spot in the Pool standings as they have a tally of six points from two matches, with Hockey Punjab also having a similar record.
The match saw Hockey Karnataka score seven goals in the second period to come back from 1-2 down. Goals for Hockey Karnataka were scored by Mohammed Raheel Mouseen (2nd, 16th, 18th), Pruthvi Raj (12th, 14th), Abharan Sudev (20th, 20th) and K T Cariappa (18th) while Ajay Yadav (9th, 12th), skipper Pal Raj Kumar (10th) and Sourabh Anand (16th) scored for Uttar Pradesh Hockey.
