Jhansi, Oct 18 Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reached the Division A semifinals of the 16th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship with contrasting wins here on Sunday.
In the first quarterfinal, Hockey Haryana drubbed Hockey Chandigarh 5-1. Manjeet gave Haryana the lead in the 20th minute, and Harpal scored twice (26′, 28′) to make it 3-0 at half-time.
Pankaj added a fourth in the 51st minute. Captain Singh scored Chandigarh’s only goal in the 59th minute, and Shubham restored the four-goal margin with a field goal in the final minute.
In the following quarterfinal, Hockey Punjab fought past Hockey Maharashtra 5-4 in the shootout.
Ujwal Singh gave Punjab the lead with a penalty stroke in the seventh minute, and they held it until the 49th minute. Ravi Paresh Bharadia then levelled for Maharashtra with a penalty corner.
In the shootout, Gurjot Singh, Simranjot Singh, Lovenoor Singh, Dilraj Singh and captain Harjeet Singh all scored for Punjab.
Maharashtra scored four times through Dhairyashil Jadhav, Babu Venkati Metkar and Prajwal Moharkar. Punjab goalkeeper Paras Malhotra saved Ajinkya Jadhav’s attempt.
In the penultimate quarterfinal, Hockey Madhya Pradesh beat Hockey Bengal 5-3. Rohit Kujur gave Bengal the lead in the 12th minute and made it 2-0 in the 38th. Madhya Pradesh then scored five goals in 18 minutes.
Captain Yousuf Affan (39′), Arjun Sharma (48′ penalty corner, 57′), Shreyas Dhupe (50′) and Mohd Konain Dad (55′) all scored.
Kujur completed his hat-trick in the final minute, but it did not change the result.
In the fourth and final quarterfinal, Uttar Pradesh Hockey defeated Manipur Hockey 4-2.
Akash Pal scored twice (12′, 24′) for Uttar Pradesh, and Sumit Kumar added a field goal in the 19th minute. Suresh Sharma Adhikarimayum (14′) and Cyril Lugun (20′, penalty corner) helped Manipur level the score at 1-1 and 2-2.
Sharda Nand Tiwari then scored from a penalty stroke in the 38th minute.
(PTI News)
