Chandigarh lads win thriller at junior hockey nationals

Gurjeet Singh scored four goals as Hockey Chandigarh edged past Hockey Himachal 5-3 during the ongoing 15th Hockey India Junior Men’s National Championship, in Jalandhar.

In first Division ‘B’ match, Hockey Himachal jumped into a lead as Anuj posted the first goal in the 6th minute. After settling down, Chandigarh lads bounced back in the back through Sharandeep Singh in the 23rd minute, and the joy was doubled as Gurjeet Singh struck his first in the 35th minute.

Tanish Kumar found the equaliser for Himachal in the 39th minute, but Gurjeet Singh (48th, 51st, 56th) came up with a stunning performance to ensure a two-goal win for Chandigarh. Anubhav Rangra’s 52nd minute goal went in vain.

In the next match, Jammu & Kashmir defeated Hockey Arunachal 5-4. All five goals for the winning team were scored by captain Rajveer Singh (13th, 23rd, 46th, 53rd, 60th) while, Shatish Kumar Thakur (21st), Vivek Yadav (9th), Abhi Rajbhar (42nd) and captain Amarjeet Singh (38th) scored a goal each for Hockey Arunachal.

The last Division ’B’ match of the day saw Delhi log a comfortable 3-0 win over Hockey Uttarakhand with Bhanu (7th, 38th) scoring two goals and Yuvraj Singh (50th) scoring one for Delhi.

In other results, Hockey Karnataka registered a dominating 10-1 victory over Hockey Andhra Pradesh, Hockey Haryana defeated Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey 3-0 and Uttar Pradesh Hockey defeated Hockey Maharashtra 9-2

Hosts Hockey Punjab faced a tough fight from Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu as the contest was alive till the very last quarter. Punjab, however, scored three back-to-back goals to take the game away from Tamil Nadu and win 8-4. Amandeep (21st, 29th), Lovenoor Singh (43rd, 52nd), Jobanpreet Singh (53rd, 54th), Charanjeet Singh (5th) and captain Gursewak Singh (44’) were goal scorers for Hockey Punjab, while Akash K (12th) and Manimaran V (21st, 27th, 40th) were the two goal scorers for Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu.

Nine SGGS College students in action

As many as nine hockey players of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College (SGGS), Sector 26, led by Captain Prabhjot Singh, are representing the city at the ongoing nationals.

Prabhjot, a BA 2nd year student and Junior National silver medallist and Junior India camper, is leading the side. Other students include vice-captain Fateh Singh, Premjeet Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Rishav, Sukhampal Singh, Satnam Singh, Mohammed Zaid and Dheeraj. Gurcharan Singh Gill, team Incharge for the national meet, and Principal Jaswinder Singh extended their best wishes to the team.