Odisha, Bihar, Arunachal, Andhra Pradesh Score Big Wins On Day 1 Of The 12th Sub-Junior National Hockey Championship

Goa Khabar : Odisha kicked off their campaign in style after registering a thumping victory against the team from Kerala with the scoreboard reading a massive 14 goals to none in favour of the East Indian side, in the 12th Hockey India sub-junior men’s National championship played at Hockey Astro Turf, at Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa, Goa on Wednesday.

The men in black cruised through their orange counterparts with ease and finesse with Sanjit Tirkey opening their account in the first quarter followed by 3 goals in the second quarter where they made it almost impossible for the Keralites to redeem themselves. The team from Odisha made the Keralite defence look like fish out of water with Irengbam Singh and Aryan Xess scoring respective hat-tricks.

The Keralites did create a few chances only to no avail with their link up play being cut short by the strong Odisha’s defence. Once the third quarter commenced it was only a matter of how bad it could get for the Keralite defence which ended up being an absolute horror show thanks to the lads from Odisha only adding insult to injury with a total of 10 goals in the last 2 quarters.

Later in the day, Hockey Bihar defeated Telangana Hockey 18-0. Bihar dominated the match, however couldn’t find a breakthrough until the second quarter where Bihar scored 5 goals whereas Telangana was struggling even to get possession of the ball. The Bihar side outplayed Telangana since, as the latter side seemed to have lost focus and couldn’t get through the Bihar defence.

In the 3rd quarter Bihar completely overpowered the Telangana defence and scored 6 more goals. Bihar skipper Aman Kumar scored a hat trick goal in the third quarter and two more goals coming from the Bihar players absolutely outperformed the Telangana players in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter also was in the favour of Bihar where they managed to repeat the score of the 3rd quarter giving them a total score of 18 goals.

In another match, Hockey Arunachal defeated Hockey Jammu and Kashmir 6-2. The first half saw a balanced play from either of the sides as a goal by Arunachal’s Sahajpreet Singh in the 12th minute was cancelled by J&K’s Rajveer Singh in the 16th minute. In the 2nd quarter Arunachal was on fire scoring 2 goals where Jammu was slow but somehow managed to pull one back.

The 3rd and 4th quarter in Arunachal’s favour where they managed to score three more goals through Anil Balihar’s brace and the third by Sachin to win the match 6-2.

In another match, Hockey Andhra Pradesh thrashed Hockey Mizoram 13-0. Captain Metta Sai Kumar scored the first penalty goal. Having a stable dominance, Pudi Jagadesh of Andhra Pradesh shattered the Mizoram defense with his tactical skills. Dodium Kumar netted the second in the 8th minute. In the second quarter Andhra Pradesh piled more misery on the Mizoram side as Gandi Chandu scored a brace while Yeturi Kumar also netted for the winners. In the final 2 quarters of the game the winning side netted 8 more goals to win the game 13-0.

At the end of 2nd quarter which wasn that helpful for the North-East players, began the 3rd quarter where Venkat Nadiminti Akhil and Dodium Subramanyam Hemanth Kumar scored roaring goals while Mizoram lost hopes. Andhra Pradesh won by 13-0 lead.

Later in the day, chief guest, Puneet Goel, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Goa inaugurated the tournament, along with, Sports Secretary, Ajit Roy, President Goan’s Hockey, Xavier Marquis, Vice President Goan Hockey, Farell Furtado and Secretary, Benny Viegas.

Joaquim Carvalho, Merwyn Fernandes, Darryl Dsouza,  Clarence Lobo, Selma D’Silva, Eliza Nelson Britto and Loretta Fernandes were among the 6 former Olympic players from Goa, were felicitated on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest, Puneet welcomed all the teams that have participated in the competition and wished that success in the tournament, “Here we have the past, present and future of Hockey today among us,” he said, “The past are sitting with us in the stands and the future are playing on the field,” he added.