Sport - Hockey   

U.P. puts up a spirited display

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE Dec. 27. Uttar Pradesh was the clear underdog. But at the end of the match, a keenly fought one against fancied Namdhari, the U.P. boys trooped off with their head held high after an engrossing 1-1 draw in a pool `D' fixture of the 10th National Sub-Junior hockey championship at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium grounds, Jalahalli here today.

Having lost 2-4 to Orissa yesterday, U.P. was least expected to put up a fight against the fleet-footed forwardline of Namdhari. But with a dogged and determined defence, the U.P. boys almost pulled off a win, but for a glaring lapse in defending the fifth penalty corner which resulted in the equaliser.

Namdhari showed all its guile and gumption but failed to make deep impressions. Sardar Singh and Sher Singh did time and again weave their way into the rival 25 yard line only to be baulked by the crowded U.P. defence. And it was in one of the quick counters that U.P. forged into the lead. In the 14th minute Sajid Khan, after a fine run down the left flank, crossed into the goalmouth. Harjinder Singh under the Namdhari goal left the ball alone while Gurvinder and Hardial failed to clear and Manoj Kumar lurking unmarked at the far end wasted no time in deflecting the ball onto the boards to the delight of his teammates.

Namdhari which on Thursday drubbed HP 13-0, one thought, would retaliate with vengeance. However, it was not coming and although a late aggression did earn the team a series of penalty-corners, it only managed to restore parity. Sher Singh diverting a solid hit from Avtar Singh, following his teams fifth penalty-corner, onto the boards.

Haryana showing fine adaptability outplayed a better-rated Hyderabad but failed to translate its superiority into a big victory. The 2-1 scoreline at the end however enabled the Northern state to inch towards a probable quarterfinal berth from pool `C'.

The host Karnataka led by the brilliance of Chengappa ran up an impressive 7-0 winners over Rajasthan in a pool `A' tie.

The results:

Pool `A': Jammu & Kashmir 2 (Onkar Singh, Matinderpal Singh) bt Bhopal 1 (Syed Imran Ali); Karnataka 7 (Chengappa 3, Nagesh Boyer, Ravi Kumar, Dheeraj, Parmesh) bt Rajasthan 0.

Pool `B: Andhra Pradesh 4 (N.S. Rajesh 2, B. Veerabarghav, Chowdhary Babu) bt Pondicherry 1 (N. Kamala Kannan); Bengal 0 drew with Uttaranchal 0.

Pool `C: Haryana 2 (Yudhvir, Sanjeev Ajmani) bt Hyderabad 1 (Shaiefuddin); Mumbai 11 (Vishal Lal 3, Avik Lodh 2, Ruben D'Souza, Akhilesh Singh, Alden D'Souza, Nigel Concessio, Noble Jacob, Reece Pereira) bt Tripura 1 (Uttam Das).

Pool `D': Namdhari 1 (Sher Singh) drew with Uttar Pradesh 1 (Manoj Kumar); Orissa 13 (Bikash Toppo 3, Ajit Kumar Majih 3, Nuel Tirkey 2, Anthony Hemrom 2, Bipin Ekka 2, Roshan Minz) bt HP 0.

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