Punjab reaffirmed its heavyweight status in domestic hockey with a 31-0 thrashing of Chhattisgarh at the fifth sub-junior men's National hockey championship (A Division) here on Tuesday.
Sumeetpal Singh scored eight, and Gursahibjit Singh and Navpreet Singh added five goals each as Punjab completely controlled the match from beginning to end. Punjab was up 16-0 by half time.
The other Pool C match was also a high-scoring one with Gangpur-Odisha defeating Tamil Nadu 17-0.
Nahas Barwa slammed in five goals for Gangpur-Odisha, including the first two back-to-back goals in the second and fifth minutes. Mandip Kerketta scored a hat-trick for the winner while Prakash Dhir, Albert Tete and Sudeep Chirmako contributed a brace each.
In Pool D, Karnataka drew with Jharkhand 2-2 in a closely contested match while Ramesh Gedela's 63rd minute winner helped Andhra Pradesh edge past Maharashtra 2-1.
The results:
Pool C: Punjab 31 (Sumeetpal Singh 8, Gursahibjit Singh 5, Navpreet Singh 5, Harmanpreet Singh 4, Dilpreet Singh 3, Harmanjit Singh 2, Harpreet Singh, Loverose Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Karanbir Singh) bt Chhattisgarh 0.
Gangpur-Odisha 17 (Nahas Barwa 5, Mandip Kerketta 3, Prakash Dhir 2, Albert Tete 2, Sudeep Chirmako 2, Rahul Ekka, Shakti Kujur, Abhijeet Swain) bt Tamil Nadu 0.
Pool D: Karnataka 2 (Rajesh, Rahul) drew with Jharkhand 2 (Noel Topno, Nimeshan Kerketta).
Andhra Pradesh 2 (Chinnayya Rachapudi, Ramesh Gedela) bt Maharashtra 1 (Rahul Shinde).
