Punjab start campaign in style

LUCKNOW, September 5, 2012: Akashdeep Singh scored four goals, including a hat-trick, to help Punjab begin their campaign in the 2nd Hockey India Junior National Men Hockey Championship in style with a 7-0 victory over Chhattisgarh 7-0 a pool C match at the Maj. Dhyan Chand Stadium in the Guru Gobind Singh College here today. 

Aksdeep Singh scored his first goal in the first half and again in the 54th, 57th and 64th minutes to complete his maiden hat-trick in the championship.

Chandigarh, who lost to Karnataka in their opening match by 0-2 yesterday, staged a comeback in the event, scoring an easy 10-1 win against Jammu and Kahsmir in pool G. But, with two wins in as many as matches, Karnataka are on the verge of making it to the last eight.

Karnataka had a 5-0 win against Kerala earlier in the day. Captain Aiyappa PR Paranandan led from the front, scoring two goals in the first 11 minutes. Basvaraj Amdiger, She She Gowda and Mallikarjun Aikur scored a goal each.

Tamil Nadu beat Uttrakhand 5-0 while SAI Bhopal and Maharashtra in pool E split points after playing a 1-1 draw in pool E matches. SAI took the lead in the 29th minute through Nitesh, who converted a penalty stroke. But six minutes before the hooter, Kartik Sharma converted a penalty corner to level the score.

Earlier, defending champions Haryana got a walk-over from Assam in pool A as their rivals failed to turn up for the second consecutive day.

A Hockey India Press release