The tournament progresses into the quarter-final stages from tomorrow
Goa Khabar : Hockey Himachal and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey registered wins in the last round of the pool matches of the 12th Hockey India sub-junior men’s National championship played at Hockey Astro Turf, at Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa, on Wednesday.
Hockey Himachal played for pride and managed a 5-1 win over Hockey Rajasthan in their final fixture of the tournament. Although there were no positives in the first quarter, Naman Patel of Rajasthan scored his first goal against the Himachal side but the joy was short lived in the third quarter Satwinder Singh of Himachal cracked opened Rajasthan’s defence and Tanish Kumar doubled the lead soon afterwards. Satwinder went on to score yet another goal in the 43rd minute off a penalty corner. Encouraged by the team’s performance the skipper Harsh scored two more goals in the 4th quarter which made it difficult for Rajasthan to cope up with the score board.
In the final match of the group stages Union Territory side of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu thumped Manipur Hockey 9-0.
A promising start by Manipur gave the north eastern side a ray of hope but as the early bits of the first quarter commenced the union territory side settled in well with two goals by Pramod Pal and Shubham Rajbhar putting them ahead in the game.
Another two goals by the DNH & DD in the third quarter killed off any comeback chance since the mountain just seemed too huge to climb for Manipur with Srijan Yadav pulling off a star in the making performance.
The match took a turn from bad to worse as 5 goals were added by the Union territory side in the last quarter of the match.
12th Hockey India Sub Junior Men Nationals at Peddem Mapuca on 12th May 2022
The National sub-jounior men’s tournament has now progressed into the quarter final states and will see valiant battles, between defending champions Jharkhand and Chandigarh tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. whereas Haryana will face Bihar at 8:30 a.m. At 10.30. a.m. Uttar Pradesh will face off against Punjab who are having an amazing tournament. The final game of the quarter finals will be played by Dadar Nagar Haveli versus Odisha at 4 p.m.
Earlier in the tournament, Jharkhand havr shown some incredible numbers in their group matches and Chandigarh has been a silent killer with their teamwork and attack counter attack gameplay. Both teams have completely dominated their games in the group stage with similar strategy incredible offensive gameplay and some jaw dropping numbers on the scorecard.
In the second quarter final, Haryana vs Bihar seems to an ultimate face off as they have proved to be two most balanced teams in the tournament. Haryana has given performance after performance in their group matches and has been victorious with a complete balance strategy of offence and defence. Bihar on the other hand has been an attacking typhoon in the tournament having a total number of 35 goals overall with a dominating attacking strategy not giving its opponents even a chance to touch the ball having some of the most attacking players in their team and a superb amount of teamwork.
Haryana with their balanced and Bihar with their aggressive gameplay promises to be a pleasurable game.
While, the third quarter final match will feature the ever so dominant Punjab side take on Uttar Pradesh in a north Indian derby take looks to be a cracker of a contest if the group stage stats are taken into consideration.
Punjab play a dominant attacking style of hockey with the physical build of their players adding extra leverage to their over-all game play. Uttar Pradesh too have showcased the talent of their players with 2 decisive victories in their 2 group stage matches that make them worthy opponents to a dominant Punjab side.
Star players Manpreet Singh and Prabhdeep Singh will be the ones to look out for since the both have scored 16 out of Punjab’s 45 goals. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab also boast of a solid defensive unit with Punjab not conceding a single goal in their 3 matches and U.P. conceding only one out of their 2 games.
The match looks to be a goal fest but the defence from either side isn’t something that should be overlooked upon.
Whereas, the last quarter final for the day would feature the Odisha side taking on DNH and DD with either side looking to punch their ticket to the semifinals. Both sides have racked up goals left right centre with their goal difference also being the same with 38 goals in favour of them.
Odisha can boast of having a clean defensive sheet throughout the group stages with the ball yet to find the back of the net of their goal whereas DNH and DD has 41 goals as compared to Odisha’s 38. Irengbam Singh, Aryan Xess and Yojin Minz find themselves amongst the top ten scorers of the tournament with the trio racking as many as 27 goals amongst them. Both teams have had tremendous group stages and will look to book a first class ticket to the semis.
QUARTER FINALS FIXTURES
- Jharkhand v/s Chandigarh, 6.30 am
- Haryana v/s Bihar, 8.30 am
- Uttar Pradesh V/S Punjab, 10.30 am
- Dadar Nagar Haveli V/S Odisha, 4.00 pm
All matches will be played at Hockey Astro Turf, Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa.
