Imphal (Manipur), 12 January 2018: Action in the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division) continued today into its sixth day with Sports Authority of India, Assam Hockey, Canara Bank, Sashastra Seema Bal, Food Corporation of India all registering victories in their respective Pool matches.
In the opening match of the day, Sports Authority of India defeated Telangana Hockey with a huge margin of 8-0 in Pool A to secure their second consecutive victory of the competition. Goals for Sports Authority of India came thick and fast as Pravakar Minz (15’, 41’), Manish Sharma (3’), B N Sridhar (26’), Pramod (28’), captain Harshal Sharma (41’), Mangra Bhengra (44’) and Abhishek (60’) scored for them in a convincing victory.
In the second Pool A match of the day, Assam Hockey defeated Tripura Hockey 5-0 to register their first victory of the competition. Goals for Assam Hockey were scored by captain Harvir Singh (38’, 42’), Junaidul Islam (4’), Niranjan Boro (58’) and Papumoni Saikia (60’).
In a Pool B match, Canara Bank produced a great performance to win their third consecutive match of the competition to defeat Hockey Andhra Pradesh 4-1. Canara Bank scored twice in the 12th and 23rd minutes to take a 2-0 lead but Hockey Andhra Pradesh pulled a goal back in the 35th minute through Venkata Sree Balaji Aripeneni. However, Canara Bank scored twice again to secure a 4-1 victory. Nikkin Thimmaiah’s brace (23’, 37’) and a goal each from G N Pruthviraj (12’) and K P Somaiah secured the win for Canara Bank.
In Pool C, Sashastra Seema Bal won their first match of the competition when they beat Hockey Madhya Pradesh 5-4 in a well-fought match which could have gone either way. Goals for Sashastra Seema Bal were scored by Naveen Kumar (17’, 30’), Vinay Vishwkarma (18’), Ashutosh Kumar (43’) and Agandeep Singh (43’) while Meet Singh Thakur (18’, 48’), Sushil Maharashi (20’) and Prakash Singh Rawat (33’) scored for Hockey Madhya Pradesh.
In another Pool C encounter, Food Corporation of India registered their second victory in three matches when they beat Chhattisgarh Hockey 9-2. Food Corporation of India started the match well as they scored two goals in the last two minutes of the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead but Chhattisgarh Hockey pulled one back in the 23rd minute. However, Food Corporation of India put their foot on the pedal to score seven more goals to win the match 9-2 as Chhattisgarh Hockey could only add one more to their tally. Goals for Food Corporation of India were scored by Lakhwinder Singh (15’, 28’, 41’, 46’), Ningombam Jen Jen (14’, 42’), Ganendrajit (30’), Ronit Minz (54’) and Sandeep Joshua (58’) while Chattisgarh Hockey’s goals were scored by Khogeswar Bagh (23’) and Shukdev Nirmalkar (59’).
Central Industrial Security Force and Vidarbha Hockey Association played out a 3-3 draw in Pool B which meant that both the teams remain winless in the competition. Vidarbha Hockey Association looked like they would run away with the match as they took a 3-1 lead but Central Industrial Security Force scored two goals in the last ten minutes to play out a 3-3 draw. Goals for Central Industrial Security Force were scored by Niraj Yadav (28’, 50’) and Prince Kerketta (57’) while Vidarbha Hockey Association’s goals were scored by Akbar Khan (12’), Arif Shaikh (41’) and Naresh Telang (43’).
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