Patiala go down tamely against Mumbai 3-0

Chandigarh, June 20

Mumbai Hockey Association Limited beat Hockey Patiala 3-0 to take their place in the next round of the Hockey India 7th Senior National Hockey Championship 2017 (Men’s Division A) in Lucknow today. 

With this win, Mumbai enter the next stage on virtue of a better goal difference than Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy. In a must-win game, Mumbai Hockey Association Limited put on a stellar performance, driven by Rajendra Pawar's brace (47th minute and 49th minute) and a goal by Manpreet Singh (24th minute) , to take all three points. In Pool A, Railway Sports Promotion Board beat Services Sports Control Board 4-2. Ajmer Singh opened the account in the 11th minute while Affan Yousuf (24th minute), Raju Pal (53rd minute) and Sheshe Gowda (57th minute) gave Railway Sports Promotion Board a comfortable victory. They confirmed their passage to the next round with a perfect record of four wins. In Pool C, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy beat Hockey Odisha 4-2. Nikky Kaushal's hat-trick (2nd minute, 15th minute, 56th minute) gave Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy their second victory of the tournament. 

Air India Sports Promotion Board beat Association of Indian Universities 5-0.  Goals by Shivender Singh (28th minute), Mohd Umar (33rd minute), Armaan Qureshi (36th minute, 57th minute) and Manish Yadav (37th minute) gave Air India Sports Promotion Board a comfortable win. In Pool A, Namdhari XI and Uttar Pradesh Hockey played out a hugely entertaining 5-5 draw. Captain Harwinder Singh scored a hat-trick (6th minute, 24th minute, 58th minute) for Namdhari XI in the encounter. 

Uttar Pradesh Hockey's star performer was Tarun Adhikari who scored a brace in the 40th and 53rd minutes. In Pool B, Comptroller & Auditor General of India beat Hockey Gangpur Odisha 5-0. Goals for Comptroller & Auditor General of India were scored by Jagroop Singh (5th minute), Nithin Thimmaiah (20th minute, 39th minute), Imran Khan (35th minute) and Md. Naemuddin (51st minute). Hockey Haryana beat Hockey Karnataka 3-2 in an entertaining encounter. 

Goals by Jagwant Singh (4th minute), Gagandeep Singh (19th minute) and Jonny Jasrotia (37th minute) gave Haryana a comfortable 3-0 lead. Hockey Karnataka rallied back through goals by Pruthvi Raj (44th minute) and AP Siraj (56th minute) but failed to make a comeback. — TNS