Junior hockey | Haryana knocks out Tamil Nadu

Chandigarh staves off Punjab’s challenge

Haryana registered a facile 7-3 win over Tamil Nadu in the quarterfinals of the 11th Junior National men’s hockey championship at the SDAT astroturf grounds here on Wednesday.

The Tamil Nadu boys conceded two goals in the space of four minutes but shot back strongly the very next minute to reduce the margin through S. Aravind Kumar. Thereafter, the experienced Haryana side applied the pressure on the host and added three more goals to its tally.

Deepak was the man in command for the team scoring twice during this period.

Tamil Nadu pressed hard in the final quarter. B. Sathish and Aravind worked hard for the team to score a goal apiece. And, so did Deepak and Rohit for Haryana to seal a comfortable win.

In another quarterfinal clash, Chandigarh staved off a stiff challenge to defeat a fighting Punjab 3-2 for a place in the last four.

The results (quarterfinals): Chandigarh 3 (Rohit 2, Sumit) bt Punjab 2 (Simranjot Singh, Rajinder Singh).

Haryana 7 (Deepak 3, Amandeep 2, Pankaj, Rohit) bt Tamil Nadu 3 (B. Sathish, Aravind, S. Aravind Kumar).

Uttar Pradesh 9 (Sharda Nand Tiwari 5, Manish Sahani 2, Vishnukanth Singh, Mohammad Haris) bt Delhi 0.

Odisha 4 (Sudeep Sirmako 2, Amandeep Lakra, Susanth Toppo) bt Bihar 1 (Monu Kumar) .