NEW DELHI
Guru Gobind Singh Sports College (GGSSC), Lucknow, was crowned champion at the 50th Nehru junior hockey tournament with a 3-0 win over Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy (MPHA, Bhopal) in the final at the Shivaji Stadium on Wednesday.
The Lucknow boys went ahead in the ninth minute through Mohd. Zaid. Two minutes later, Manoj Yadav made it 2-0 after the team was awarded a penalty stroke for deliberate infringement.
MPHA, coached by former India star Sameer Dad, tried to fight back but the opposition kept its defences up and the Bhopal team could not recover from the early setbacks. Rahul Rajbhar made it 3-0 against the run of play in the 40th minute to seal the title for his team.
Zaid was named player-of-the-match and Manoj player-of-the tournament. MPHA received the Shiv Kumar Varma Fairplay Trophy.
The result (final):
GGSSC, Lucknow 3 (Mohd. Zaid, Manoj Yadav, Rahul Rajbhar) bt MPHA, Bhopal 0.
