Punjab, Mumbai ride into Junior National Hockey Championship semi-finals: Hockey Recap
Punjab, the favourites and Mumbai, the hosts have been marched into the semi-final stage of the Boys’ U-17 Junior National Hockey Championship that took place at the MHA Stadium in Mumbai on June 06.
In the opening quarter-finals, Mumbai overwhelmed Chattisgarh by seven goals, 9-2 and moved into the semi-finals of the event. In the other game, Punjab thrashed Tamil Nadu by seven goals, 7-0 and confirmed their spot in the next knock-out stage.
The youngsters from Mumbai displayed a well-coordinated show and took Chattisgarh down. Though the Chattisgarh team earned many chances in the crucial match, they failed to capitalise all the chances and lost the game. On the other side, the Mumbai team
obtained eleven short-corners and could only convert two.
The two teams though started the game quite professionally, but it was Mumbai that drew the first blood in the 8th minute of the game. Roshan Keisham, the skipper of the Mumbai side, executed a splendid shot at the goal, opening the score at 1-0.
After opening the score-account, the players from Mumbai further aggravated their game and attacked Chattisgarh with back-to-back strikes.
Jarryd Nunes scored a goal in the midway to first half and doubled the tally. In the later time, the attackers from Mumbai ruined the defence-line of Chattisgarh. The players including Aditya Shirke, Ganendrajit Ranjit, Nikhil Pujari and Anup Walmiki scored
one goal each and expanded the lead up to six goals, 6-0. With commanding lead, they established their dominance onto the field. The first half of play was concluded with Mumbai holding a six-goal lead.
At the start of the second round, Shane Fletcher converted a short corner and increased the lead up to seven goals. In the later time Rajat Sharma marked another shot to take an insurmountable eight-goal edge, 8-0.
At last the Chattisgarh attack came alive in the last ten minutes of the game but they could only score two goals. Sumit Patle and Raja Khan scored one goal each to reduce the Mumbai lead. However, Moses Pullanthara scored a goal to seal the commanding 7-2
victory.
In the other game, Punjab whitewashed Tamil Nadu by seven straight goals and moved to the semi-final stage. From the Punjab side, Sukhdev Singh scored three goals, while his team-mate, Harsahib Singh, added two goals. Furthermore, Gurpreet Singh Senior and
Davinder Kumar added one goal each in the triumph. On the other side, the resilient defence from Punjab kept Tamil Nadu off the record throughout the two halves and outclassed in the way to a title-claiming fight.
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