Haryana defeats Karnataka to lift Senior National Hockey Championship Title
Mandeep Antil scored a game-winning goal in the dying moments of the match, as Haryana powered a 2-1 win over Karnataka in the finals of the men’s Senior National Hockey Championship that took place at the Aishbagh Hockey Stadium in Bhopal on June
19, 2011.
Though the Karnataka team was considered favourite for the title-victory, they failed to maintain their winning-streak and lost the game by 2-1.
A chuck of national players were part of the both teams those enchanted the on-lookers with their brilliant show-off. Another interesting part of the match was that the two veteran drag flickers, namely VR Raghunath and Sandeep Singh, were in struggle
to impress the selectors and confirm their place in the squad for upcoming mega events. Apart from results of the match, it was an out of the ordinary competition.
Both the teams started the game quite professionally and executed well-coordinated passes in the early minutes of the game. However, at the same time the defensemen from the two squads were not ready to let the ball go away. In the 11th minute
of the game, the Karnataka team obtained the first short-corner and tested Raghunath. But unluckily Vikram Kanth failed to stop the ball properly and missed the golden opportunity to take a lead in the game.
In a matter of two minutes, the strikers from Haryana took the ball into the defensive circle of Karnataka and obtained first short-corner of the day. Legendary drag flicker, Sandeep Singh, was given chance to avail the opportunity and he did not disappoint
his fans. He executed a classic shot that moved straight away in the Karnataka's goal-post. The custodian from Karnataka did not have a chance to stop the ball.
Both the squads were playing the fast and furious game, as Karnataka wanted to level the score, while Haryana wanted to hold back the lead. In the 28th minute of the match, Karnataka's team received another short-corner, but
again failed to convert it into a successful score. Raghunath once again was given opportunity to tie the score, but to no avail. Irshad Ali, the defending player from Haryana, did not let the ball into the crossbars.
In the 41st minute of the match, the Karnataka's team managed another short-corner and once again Raghunath was took the shot. However, he did not miss this time and levelled the score at 1-1. In the later time Haryana and Karnataka
both missed few sure-goal chances that increased the suspense of the game.
In quite a brilliant way, Antil of Haryana dribbled a couple of Karnataka defenders, sent a reverse shot into the goal, and put his team, ahead on the scorecard. As the final horn sounded, Haryana rode away the field with a historic victory and clinched
the first ever title of the Senior National Hockey Championship.
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