Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd crush Vidarbha Hockey Association 6-0

Mysore (Karnataka), 2 April 2015: The second day of the 5th edition of the Hockey India Junior Men National Hockey Championship 2015 in Mysore witnessed ten teams playing exciting games of hockey.

Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd started the day with its second successive win against Vidarbha Hockey Association 6-0. This was followed by Chandigarh Olympic Association beating Hockey Bihar 5-2.  The third match of the day saw Hockey Puducherry registering their second win by beating Delhi Hockey
4-1. The game between Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association and Hockey Gujarat was an exciting clash as the former rained goals and won the match 19-2. The last match saw Bengal Hockey Association emerging as the winning team against Hockey Jammu & Kashmir 1-0.

The first match of the day witnessed Mumbai Hockey Association taking over Vidarbha Hockey Association and winning it comfortably by 6-0. The entire match went a dry run for Vidarbha Hockey Association as they were unable to credit any goals to their account. Mumbai Hockey Association scored the initial opening in the 10th minute when a penalty corner was successfully converted by Vinay Valmiki and opening the scorecard 1-0. This was followed by the team adding two more goals. It was Nitesh Kamble brace in the 21st and the 27th minute which helped his team sit on a comfortable 3-0 at the end of first half. Mumbai continued their onslaught in the second half as Aakib Rahim scored through a penalty stroke in the 44th minute. 

In the very next minute Reyaz Qureshi notched a field goal in the 45th minute and the score board stood 5-0. Nitesh Kamble scored another winning goal for his team in the 66th minute and helped Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd declare a convincing win against Vidarbha Hockey Association 6-0.

In a well contested match between Hockey Bihar and Chandigarh Olympic Association of Pool D, it was Chandigarh Olympic Association who emerged as the victors against Hockey Bihar 5-2. Chandigarh Olympic Association started its goal scoring run with Harjot Singh who notched a field goal in the 2nd
minute of the game. In the 14th minute it was Mahinder Pal Singh who scored a goal through a field effort to double the lead to 2-0. Without wasting much time, Chandigarh’s Harikrat Singh scored the third goal for his team in the 16th minute. Just three minutes for the first session to end, Hockey Bihar bounced back into the game and scored their opening goal in 32nd minute through Anwarullah Shah taking the score to 3-1 at the end of first half. In the second half Gursewak Singh successfully converted a penalty corner in the 39th minute and scored the fourth goal for Chandigarh Olympic Association. Hockey Bihar’s Captain Kishor Minz scored the second goal for the team in the 53rd minute ensured that the penalty corner opportunity is
not wasted. Chandigarh Olympic Association continued with its attack and yet again scored in the 64th minute, this time through Manjinder Singh who made a field goal and ending the game 5-2.

In the third match, Hockey Puducherry tastes win over Delhi Hockey to an attractive goal margin of 4-1. Hockey Puducherry started the game by putting pressure on the opponent immediately. P. Mahendran opened the score for his team through a penalty corner in the 11th minute. This was followed by a
field goal in the 28th minute through S. Muthu Krishnan helping Hockey Puducherry take the lead to 2-0. Hockey Puducherry added their third goal in the 51st minute coming through the stick of P. Thiru Murugan.  Just five minutes left in the game, Delhi’s Arun Kumar scored a maiden goal in the 65th minute and opening the goal account for his team. Hockey Puducherry added the last minute goal to their tally through a field effort by V. Veera Thamizhan which helped Hockey Puducherry win the game by 4-1 against Delhi
Hockey.

The fourth game between Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association and Hockey Gujarat was an exciting clash as the former rained goals and won the match 19-2. Going into the attack immediately, Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association opened their account in the 9th minute as a penalty corner was hit past the Hockey Gujarat goalkeeper by Gurbinder Singh. Within three minutes Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association hit back again as they doubled the lead in the 12th minute as Devbrat Yadav held his nerves to
convert the field goal. With 2-0 on the board Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association was riding high on confidence and they struck again in the 15th minute as a field goal by Nilesh Goud took his team’s score to 3-0. Gujarat

Hockey struck back in the 22nd minute when a field goal from the stick of Shubham Yadav found the nets. The goal took the score to 3-1. Kawalpreet Singh in the 25th minute scored the 4th goal for Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association as he cleverly sneaked in a field goal. The team again scored as Captain Jayant Kumar converted a penalty corner in the 28thminute which was followed by goal no. 6 in the 33rd minute coming from Nilesh Kathoute. Just before going into the break the team took the score to 7-1 as Rahul Singh successfully converted a penalty corner in the 34th minute. The second half was not different for Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association as they continued their goal scoring spree. Adding 12 more goals in the session, it Sanjay Yadav who scored in the 36th, 53rd and 58th minute all being field goals. Pradeep added to the tally by scoring three field goals in the 39th, 45th and 62nd minute. Captain Jayant Kumar converted a penalty corner in the 49th minute and a beautiful field goal in the 68th minute. Mayur Pawar added two field goals in the 57th and 59th minute. On the other hand Hockey Gujarat managed to sneak in their second goal in the 48th minute through the stick of Peter Thomas.

Ending the day on a winning note, Bengal Hockey Association edge past over Hockey Jammu & Kashmir by 1-0. While both the teams made desperate attempts to score goals, none of the two were able to score any goal in the first session of the game. The match reached an intense phase in the second
session as the defence line-up from both the sides stood strong by restricting each other from scoring any goals. With just ten minutes left for before the final whistle went off, Nitish Neupane of Bengal Hockey
Association stroked a maiden goal in the 60th minute through a field effort which also proved to be the winning goal for his team. On the other hand Hockey Jammu & Kashmir’s repeated efforts to level the scores went in vain and lost to Bengal Hockey Association by the final score of 1-0 on board.

Results of the day: Pool A – Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. 6 Vinay Valmiki (10 min- PC), Nitesh

Kamble (21- FG, 27- FG and 66 min- FG), Aakib Rahim (44min- PS), Reyaz
Qureshi (45 min- FG) vs Vidarbha Hockey Association 0

Pool D- Chandigarh Olympic Association 5 Harjot Singh (2 min- FG), Mahinder
Pal Singh (14 min- FG), Harikrat Singh (16 min- FG), Gursewak Singh (39 min-
PC), Manjinder Singh (64 min- PC) vs Hockey Bihar 2 Anwarullah Shah (32 min-
PS), Kishor Minz (53 min- PC)

Pool B– Hockey Puducherry 4 P. Mahendran (11 min- PC), S. Muthu Krishnan (28
min- FG), P. Thiru Murugan (51min-FG), V. Veera Thamizhan (69 min- FG) vs
Delhi Hockey 1 Arun Kumar (65min- FG)

Pool C - Dadra & Nagar Haveli Hockey Association 19 Sanjay Yadav (36 min-FG,
53 min-FG, 58 min-FG), Pradeep (39 min, FG, 45 min- FG, 62 min- FG), Jayant
Kumar (28min-PC, 49min-PC, 68 min-FG), Kawalpreet Singh (25 min-FG, 69
min-FG), Rahul Singh (34 min-PC, 66 min- FG), Mayur Pawar (57 min-FG, 59
min-FG), Gurbinder Singh (9 min-PC), Devbrat Yadav (12 min-FG), Nilesh Goud
(15 min –FG), Nilesh Kathoute (33 min-PC) vs Hockey Gujrat 2 Shubham Yadav
(22 min-FG), Peter Thomas (48 min-PC)

Pool C- Bengal Hockey Association 1 Nitish Neupane (60 min- FG) vs Hockey
Jammu & Kashmir 0 

HI Press release

Mumbai Hockey Association drub Goans Hockey 10-0

Mysore (Karnataka), April 1, 2015: The 5th edition of Hockey India Junior Men National Hockey Championship 2015 commenced today in Mysore (Karnataka) and is scheduled to go on till April 12. The opening day of the Championship today, saw five back to back matches between ten teams, aiming to start their run on a winning note.

The inaugural day witnessed a thrilling match where Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd (Pool A) defeated Goans Hockey 10-0. The second match observed Vidarbha Hockey Association of Pool A registering their first win 3-2 win over Hockey Uttarakhand. In another league match of Pool B, Delhi Hockey blanked Tripura Hockey by a huge goal margin of 12-2. In the second match of Pool B, Hockey Puducherry trounced Hockey Gujarat 14-1 to mark their first win. In the last match of the day, Bengal Hockey Association beat Hockey Andhra Pradesh 7-2.

In the first match of Pool A, Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. drubbed Goans Hockey with a huge goal margin of 10-0. Mumbai Hockey Association was on a high in the entire match as they did not allow the opponents to score a single goal. 

The match saw its first goal being scored in the 18th minute when Kunal Bhandary through a field goal took the early lead for his team. This started the goals for the team as teammate Atish Shirke scored the second goal in the 21st minute going on to double the lead for his team. Just before the end of second half, Mumbai Hockey Association scored their 3rd goal in the 27th minute and it was Kunal Bhandary again who added the second goal to his personal tally. In the second half Mumbai Hockey Association added another 10 goals before taking the win over Goans Hockey. 39th minute they added the fourth goal through a penalty corner and in the 43rd minute it was Kunal Bhandary again who scored for his team and taking the score to 5-0. Another 4 goals were added in the 45th, 47th, 49th and 51st minute. The last goal was scored by Suraj Shahi in the 67th minute wherein he successfully converted through a field goal.

In another Pool A match, Vidarbha Hockey Association registered their first win as they took on Uttarakhand. In a close nail biting match it was the former who kept its nerves and won the match by 3-2. While almost the first half of the game went dull and dry, it was Vidarbha Hockey Association who finally broke the shackles in the 29th minute. Shakeen Shaikh scored a brilliant field goal and giving his team the much required opening goal for his team. At the end of first half Vidarbha Hockey Association was leading the game 1-0. 

The second half of the game proved to be more intense for both the teams as the teams made desperate efforts to reach the net. Vidarbha Hockey Association’s Shadab Khan and Rahul Kalakoti scored two consecutive goals in the 50th and the 51st minute of the game taking the lead to 3-0. In endeavour to open their score card, Uttarakhand stood successful and scored a goal through a penalty stroke through Captain Manoj Tamta in the 67th minute which was closely followed by another goal by Siddharth Miyan who penetrated the ball in the net in the 68th minute and managed to double the lead. But unable to score the equaliser goal, Vidarbha Hockey Association won the match with a close margin of 2-3.

The third match of the day between Delhi Hockey and Tripura Hockey was another exciting clash as the former scored 12 goals to the latter’s 2 goals and going on to seal the game on their name. When it seemed the first half might just end goalless, Delhi Hockey scored their first goal in the 29th minute coming from the stick of Rizwan Khan. Not satisfied with just one goal Rizwan Khan helped his team double the lead in the 35th minute when a penalty corner helped them score the second goal. 

With scores at 2-0 on Delhi’s favour, Tripura Hockey started looking to score. But Delhi Hockey had different plans as just two minutes into the second half, the team added their third goal in the 37th minute coming from the stick of Arun Kumar. In the 43rd and 48th minute, Delhi’s Mohit Anand scored a brace, taking his team’s score to 5-0. Delhi added two more goals in the 54th and 58th minute coming from Neeraj Kumar and Narender respectively. 

The very next minute Tripura Hockey scored their first goal when Sheetal Prasad score through a field goal and the score read 7-1. Delhi counter attacked and next minute they added their 8thgoal through Arun Kumar. Tripura scored their second goal in the 62nd minute coming again from the stick of Sheetal Prasad. With scores at 8-2, Delhi Hockey scored 4 more goals to their tally coming in the 64th, 66th, 68th and 69th minute.

Another exhilarating match of Pool B between Hockey Puducherry and Hockey Gujarat resulted in the former defeating the later 14-1. Just five minutes into the game, P. Thiru Murugan scored the first goal of the match in the 5th minute followed by another goal in the 6th minute by P. Mahendran who successfully converted the penalty corner and doubled the lead to 2-0. 

Hockey Puducherry continued their scoring streak when their Captain T. Arun Kumar stroked a beautiful field goal in the 16th minute. 

The team escalated their scores as the fourth and the fifth goal came from the stick of P. Mahendran and T. Kaliaiyarasan in the 17th and 22nd minute respectively. Hockey Gujarat scored their maiden goal in the 23rd minute to open the score card through Shubham Yadav coming from a field effort taking the score to 5-1. P. Mahendran’s brace in the 25th and 29th minute advanced the lead to 7-1 in favour of Puducherry. 

With just four minutes to get the first half over, V. Veera Thamizhan added another goal to his team in 31st minute and the score board read 8-1. The second half of the game saw the raining of goals for Puducherry as they got a penalty corner which was taken by S. Muthu Krishnan and successfully converted it in 39th minute. Hockey Puducherry scored four goals in 53rd, 54th, 55th and 56th minute. With Hockey Gujarat unable to add any goals, Hockey Puducherry scored a winning goal in the 69th minute when P. Mahendran put the ball past the goalkeeper which helped them win the game by 14-1.

In the last clash of the day between Bengal Hockey Association and Hockey Andhra Pradesh of Pool C, Bengal Hockey Association were seen dominating the match as they went on to thrash Hockey Andhra Pradesh by 7-2 on board. The first half of the match saw a nail biting clash where Bengal Hockey Association scored 3 goals and Hockey Andhra Pradesh scored 1 to reduce the margin. The second half saw Bengal Hockey Association going all out to score four more goals to take their total up to 7 goals and restricted Hockey Andhra Pradesh to a mere 2 goals in the match. By the full time, Bengal Hockey Association defeated Hockey Andhra Pradesh by 7-2 on board and registered their first win in the tournament.
Results of the day:

Pool A – Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. 10 Kunal Bhandary (18, 27 and 43 min), Atish Shirke (21 min), Vinay Valmiki (39 and 45 min), Suraj Shahi (47, 49 and 67 min), Nitesh Kamble (51 min) vs Goans Hockey 0

Pool A- Vidarbha Hockey Association 3 Shakeen Shaikh (29 min), Shadab Khan (50 min), Rahul Kalakoti (51 min) vs Hockey Uttarakhand 2 Manoj Tamta (67 min), Siddharth Miyan (68 min)

Pool B – Delhi Hockey 12 Rizwan Khan (28, 35 min), Mohit Anand (43, 48, 58 min), Neeraj Kumar (54 min), Amit (58min), Arun Kumar (60, 66, 68 min), Narender (66min), Nitin Kumar (69 min) vs Tripura Hockey 2 Sheetal Prasad (59, 62 min)

Pool B – Hockey Puducherry 14, P. Thiru Murugan (5 and 55 min), P. Mahendran (6, 17, 25, 29, 53, 69 min), T. Arun Kumar (16 min), T. Kaliaiyarasan (22 min), V. Veera Thamizhan (31 and 54 min), S. Muthu Krishnan (39 and 56 min) vs Hockey Gujarat 1 Shubham Yadav (23 min)

Pool C – Bengal Hockey Assoaciation 7, Raushan Kumar (5, 42 min), Md Saif Khan (20 min), Ashok Kujur (22 min), Sanjay Paswan (36, 65 min), Gurpreet Singh (57 min) vs Hockey Andhra Pradesh 2, Srikanth Chemudu Gunta (26min), Kamal Rajaprabhkar (38 min)

HI Press release

Waiting for the clash against China and Australia: Deepika

New Delhi, April 2,  2015: Post showcasing a high voltage play in the FIH World League Round 2, Deepika is excited to play the Hawke’s Bay Cup which is scheduled to start from 11th April 2015. Working on her defence alongwith Monika, Deep Grace Ekka, Sushila Chanu and Sunita Lakra, she is positive of tackling the opponents with ease and confidence. The team will be meeting China on their opening game on the 11th April 2015 wherein they will be looking at starting the tournament with a win.

Speaking on the tournament, Deepika said “We are yet again confident of putting up a great show. I am excited and look forward to the upcoming challenge. I am awaiting for our clashes with China and Australia. They will be tough opponents and I am excited to play against them. Playing against teams who are stronger than you always makes you give that extra in the game and that’s what excites me about these matches. Also with a strong defence line, I am confident we will not allow the opponents to break our defence chain easily.”

The preparatory camp, which commenced on 22nd March and will conclude on 7th April with the players working hard on their game as they understand that this tournament is important before they play the Hockey World League Semi-Final, Belgium in June this year.

HI Press release

Men hockey team leaves for Malaysia for the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

New Delhi, April 2, 2015: After an intense and highly competitive Hero Hockey India League, the Indian Men National Hockey Team is all geared-up for their first international tournament of the year – the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup – to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia from 5th April to 12th April 2015. The Asian Games gold medallist Indian team will face Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada and host Malaysia in the prestigious tournament.

The team will be led by Captain Sardar Singh and supported by vice-captain PR Sreejesh. Also this will be the first tournament under new Chief Coach Paul van Ass and the team looks confident of starting the tourney on a winning note. The 18-member squad left at 11pm from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Thursday.

Speaking from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, captain Sardar Singh said: “The team is upbeat and confident under the new chief coach. In the training sessions he has taught us to keep working on our strengths. He highlights our strengths and has guided us on how to work on our weaknesses. He even has given emphasis on improving oneself technically and this has helped us feel more confident. We are positive to give a tough time to the opponents”.

Speaking on the present team and upcoming series chief coach Paul van Ass said: “This is a very capable team and as a unit they can give a tough time to the opponents on any given day. The players during the Champions Trophy showcased that they are hungry to win and open to take on newer challenges. This is my first assignment and I am expecting a very good start. The last few days I have spent understanding each player’s way of playing and have tried to guide them to improve on certain aspects.”

HI Press release