Congratulations are in order as Hockey Haryana are the Champions of the 12th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship with a thrilling 1-1 (3-1 SO) victory over Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu in the Final of the competition.
Match summary: –
The thrilling Final encounter started with Deepak giving Hockey Haryana an early lead in just 4th minute of the match. But this lead was finished by Saravana Kumar, as he equalized the score in the 10th minute of the match for the Hockey Unit Of Tamil Nadu to make it 1-1. The two teams put on a terrific defensive display for the remainder of the regulation time, preventing any goals on their respective ends and thereby pushing the match into a Shootout.
In the Shootout, Hockey Haryana scored thrice in the first four attempts. While Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu scored the first shoot but missed all the following three attempts. Thus, Hockey Haryana emerged as the winners of the match, winning the trophy for the first time since 2011.
Speaking on the win, Hockey Haryana Head Coach Sandeep Sangwan said,
“I am really proud of our achievement. It has been a pleasure to see the growth of our team over the years, and throughout this tournament as well. I was a member of the Coaching team when Hockey Haryana had won the Senior Men Nationals first time in 2011. Gagandeep Singh was the youngest member of that team and now he has led the team as Captain to our second Senior Men Nationals trophy. I cannot express in words how happy I feel about this win.”
“I feel immensely pleased and emotional, as well, over the success of our team. We performed to the best of our abilities in the tournament. Each and every member of the team gave their 100 percent and because of their commendable efforts, we were able to reach the final, and then win the final against a very strong Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu team” he added.
Coach Sandeep Sangwan added that “Everyone will be motivated by our win and I am sure the players in every age group and category will be now be even hungrier to win more medals”.
Match for the 3rd Place:
What a nailbiting finish viewers have witnessed between Hockey Maharashtra and Hockey Karnataka for the third/fourth-place position.
Rajendra Pawar for Maharashtra and Punith R score goals for Karnataka in the 12th minute,
But Yathish Kumar B’s goal in the 23rd minute gave Hockey Karnataka a 2-1 lead. Then Harish Shindgi scored the equaliser in the 37th minute.
After this, Prajwal Moharkar scored the third goal for Hockey Maharashtra in the 42nd minute to put them in the lead.
Then exciting turn of events occur in the game and Hockey Maharashtra conceded 2 back to back Goals, from Deekshith S P in the 47th minute and Nachappa Ir in the 52nd minute led to Hockey Karnataka regaining their lead.
Hockey Karnataka defended well in the final few minutes to win the match 4-3 and thereby claiming a third-place finish in the competition.
