Chhattisgarh prevail over Kerala 3-2

Kerala and Chhattisgarh players in action in Lucknow on March 4, 2014

Lucknow, March 4, 2014: 4th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship today saw teams playing a good round of exciting hockey. In the first match of the day the audience witnessed Chhattisgarh Hockey defeating Kerala in a thrilling match. At half time when the scores were 2-0 with Hockey Kerala leading the scoreboard nobody could have expected Chhattisgarh to make a strong comeback and going on to win the match 3 goals to 2.

Kerala started the match with great speed and they managed to score their first goal in the 18th minute into first half where Sarin scored through a field goal. They went on to score their second goal just a minute before the end of first half with Jithu Sasi scoring for his team yet again through a field goal.

The second half started with Chhattisgarh playing under pressure of not only scoring and but even winning. The team started its goal scoring run with Shakeel Ahmed managing to keep his cool and he scored through a penalty corner in the 54th minute. They continued their attack and within just 8 minutes of scoring their first goal, they managed to even the scores through a field goal and this time it was Mohd Erfan Khan who scored in the 62nd minute. The team did not stop here and they yet again scored in the 69th minute, this time through Upendra Pillay who converted through a field goal.

In another match, it was Puducherry who blanked Tripura 11-1 and a win which can be easily termed as convincing. While Tripura’s Arif Hussain started the goal scoring session in the 9th minute of the match where he managed to score through a field goal, it was team Puducherry post that who then rained goals in the entire session of the remaining game. They managed to keep the attack on the opponents and scored 11 back to back goals. A Tamilarasan scored a hat-trick for his team with all his goals coming in the second half. While M Harikrishna, V Karthikeyan and N Kamalakannan scoring 2 goals each, helped the team register an easy win over the opponents.

In the third match of the day, the tournament witnessed Hockey Gangpur – Odisha taking on Mizoram and winning the match against the later 6-0. Hockey Gangpur – Odisha started its scoring feat in the 3rd minute of the game with Ashish Anmol  Minz scoring his first goal of the match through a field goal. The second goal was scored in the 13th minute and this time it was Banamali Xess scoring for his team. Within 4 minutes of the 2nd goal, Ashish Anmol Minz scored the 3rd goal for his team and 2nd in his name, which he converted through a penalty corner opportunity. At the end of the first session of the game Hockey Gangpur – Odisha was leading the score card with 5-0. In the second half just 4 minutes into the game they managed to score their 6th goal of the match and Sashi Topno converted a brilliant field goal. Mizoram failed to convert the chances that they got and ended the game without a goal in their name.

Results

Pool D- Chattisgarh 3  Shakeel Ahmed (54 min) Mohd. Erfan Khan (62 min) and Upendra Pillay (69 min) vs Kerala 2 Sarin ( 19 min), Jithu Sasi (34 min) .

Pool C Puducherry 11 A Tamilarasan (43, 58, 64 min), M Harikrishnan (13, 23 min) V Karthikeyan (25, 32 min), N Kamalakannan (15, 61 min), Manthana Pradyumnavarama (48 min) and N Selamuthu (60 min) vs Tripura 1 Arif Hussain (09 min).

Pool C- Hockey Gangpur Odisha 6 Ashish Anmol  Minz (3 17 min), Banamali Xess (13 min), Mangal Kispotta (23 min) and Dillip Kerketta (30 min) and Sashi Topno (39 min) Mizoram 0.

HI Press release