Haryana rally to post win

Defending champions Haryana were right on target in their opening match of the second Hockey India Senior National Men’s Championship here. The win came only after they overcame a one-goal deficit against Hockey Bhopal at the Madras Engineer Group ground on Sunday.

Bhopal went ahead through Affan Yousuf in the 10th minute of the contest, while Didar Singh (20th) and Mandeep Antil (51st) ensured that Haryana were saved the blushes. With this win, Haryana have crossed a major hurdle in their quest to find a place in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, in Pool G, the match between Tamil Nadu and Odisha ended in a tame 2-2 draw. Again, the two teams are the top contenders for a spot in the knockout round from their pool.

In Pool E, Air India, one of the most experienced teams in the fray, had to use all their skills to get past a fighting Madhya Pradesh 4-1. The AI players were constantly kept on their toes by a young MP side. Former India international Sameer Dad opened the scoring in the first minute, thanks to a measured Shivendra Singh pass. Vikas Choudary pulled one back for MP in the 19th minute but that was just about all they could do when it came to scoring.

Prabodh Tirkey, another former India international, put AI 3-1 ahead with strikes in the 23rd and 39th minutes. Vikas Pillay rounded off the tally with a strike in the 70th.

All teams turned up with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh.

There was no communication from the team for their match against Chattisgarh. However, the organisers were contemplating rescheduling their matches.

Results
Pool A: Haryana 2 (Didar Singh 20th, Mandeep Antil 51st) bt Hockey Bhopal 1 (Affan Yousuf 10th); Pondicherry 7 (Kamala Kannan 5th, 17th, 43rd, 59th, Karthigeyan 12th, Jairaj 13th, 53rd) bt Maharashtra 2 (Irshad Mirza 64th, Vijay Tapa 69th)
Pool C: Punjab 12 (Gurjinder Singh 9th, Prabhdeep Singh 15th, 43rd, own goal 24th, Talwinder Singh 25th, 59th, 61st, Ravipal Singh 26th, Akashdeep Singh 30th, Sarvanjit Singh 50th, 67th, Vikramjit Singh 56th) bt Jammu and Kashmir 1 (own goal 42nd). Chattisgarh w/o Arunachal Pradesh.

Pool E: Rajasthan 6 (Naresh 14th, 17th, 54th, own goal 48th, Harpreet 62nd, Jaisham 68th) bt Nagaland 1 (Keduneizo 29th); Air India 4 (Sameer Dad 1st, Prabodh Tirkey 23rd, 39th, Vikas Pillay 70th) bt Madhya Pradesh 1 (Vikas Choudary 19th)
Pool G: Kerala 11 (Muhammed Murthla 2nd, 16th, 47th, 62nd, E Sarin 6th, 52nd, 57th, S Adarse 15th, Joshan George 24th, SS Vishnu 60th, 63rd) bt Gujarat 0; Odisha 2 (Amit Rohitdas 12th, Mikhal Barla 18th) drew with Tamil Nadu 2 (Rupinderpal Singh 38th, 43rd)