UP men, women in semi-finals of 5-a-side hockey nationals
LUCKNOW: Hosts Uttar Pradesh stormed into the semi-finals of both men and women sections at the 5-a-side Senior National Hockey Championship, notching up contrasting wins, at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Wednesday.
In the men’s semi-final, Uttar Pradesh defeated Hockey Jharkhand 8-7 in sudden death, whereas the women trounced Hockey Punjab 4-0 with star performer Lalrin Diki netting a brace.
In other quarterfinals in the men’s section, Hockey Punjab, Hockey Odisha and two-time champions Hockey Karnataka scored contrasting wins. In the women’s section, defending champions Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Odisha and Hockey Haryana too notched up wins to make it to the semi-finals.
Both Uttar Pradesh and Hockey Jharkhand men came up with some stunning play. Noyel Topno scored three goals in the first half to help Hockey Jharkhand take a 3-2 lead at the half time. But after a change in the ends, hosts men changed their tactics and scored three more goals.
They were in the driver’s seat until Hockey Jharkhand found the back of the net in the 20th minute and took the game to a penalty shootout as the scoreboard read 5-all at the end of the regulation 20-minute time. Saif Khan (2’, 14’), Haris (8’), Saif Khan (14’) and Saurabh Anand (17’) scored for Uttar Pradesh Hockey, while Noyel Topno (3’, 7’, 10’, 20’) and Anurud Bhengra (15’) scored for Hockey Jharkhand.
The dingdong battle continued even in the shootout as well. Both sides scored in all five of their shots and took the game to sudden death. Eventually, Amir Khan held his nerve and took Uttar Pradesh to an 8-7 victory as captain Jen Soreng missed his shot for Hockey Jharkhand.
Hockey Punjab defeated Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 3-2, defending champions Hockey Karnataka recorded a comfortable 4-0, whereas Hockey Odisha beat Hockey Haryana 3-2.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh women dominated the proceedings against Hockey Punjab. Lalrin Diki set the ball rolling with two goals in the first half before her teammates Anuja Singh and Pooja Rani rode on the momentum.
Though Hockey Punjab tried their best to make inroads, couldn’t find a breakthrough.
Hockey Jharkhand had a convincing 4-1 win against Hockey Karnataka in the second quarterfinal, Hockey Odisha beat Hockey Maharashtra 3-2 in penalty shootout after the two sides were tied at 1-1 and Hockey Haryana crushed Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 8-0.
The penultimate day of the six-day championship on Thursday would witness eight teams vying for the podium finish in the mixed event, whereas the team events semi-finals and finals are slated for Saturday.