UP Hockey go down fighting to TN in quarters
LUCKNOW It’s curtains for twotime runners-up Uttar Pradesh Hockey at the Senior National Men’s Hockey Championship at Bhopal on Thursday as they went down fighting to spirited Tamil Nadu 1-3 in quarterfinal.
Despite putting up a brave face, UP Hockey with many junior players in the ranks, couldn’t challenge a resurgent Tamil Nadu, which scored two goals in the second quarter to take the score to 2-0 at the half time.
J Joshua Benedict Wesely opened the account in the 22nd minute, whereas Jeevankumar extended the lead to 2-0, netting another goal in the very next minute for Tanil Nadu.
UP Hockey men tried their best to reduce the margin in the third quarter, making some very good attacks in TN’s citadel, but found a strong defense wall to tackle them able.
In the 45th minute, Sundarpandi completed the formality for TN, striking a field goal. Rishabh Sahu scored the consolation goal for Uttar Pradesh Hockey in the 55th minute (1-3).
UPSETS GALORE
It was the day of big upsets in the AITA Championship Series here on Thursday as top seeded in both under-16 and under-14 categories of boys lost in straight sets.
The star of the day was Rajasthan’s Dhanjay Tibrewal as he first defeated top seed Mukul Lodhi of Lucknow 6-1, 6-2 in the under-16 category, and then outplayed Aditya Acharya of Odisha 6-2, 6-1 to book final berths in the two categories.
Even before playing in the Under-14 semi-final, Tibrewal appeared calm and composed and was focussed to his game plan.
After winning the fist set at 6-1, he didn’t lose concentration , and kept stroking the ball nicey all around the court.
DISTRICT ATHLETICS
Lucknow District Athletics Championship is being organized on April 17, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium here under the auspices of the Lucknow District Athletics Association. Its secretary, BR Varun, said that athletes willing to participate in the championship can contact him at 7.00 am on the day of the championship. The district team will also be selected to participate in the 29th UP Open Athletics Championship-2022, scheduled to be held on April 22.
VIPRAJ EXCELS
An all-round performance by Vipraj Nigam (31* runs, 7 wkts) helped Cricket Association Lucknow beat Kanpur Cricket Association by 90 runs to enter the semi-finals of the 12th All-India Cricket Tournament at Kaushambi on Thursday. CAL piled up 264/4 in 25 overs while batting first after winning the toss. Ansh Yadav top scored with an unbeaten 83, whereas Upendra Yadav made 67. In reply, KCA got out 174 in 29.1 overs. Vipraj took 7/27 for CAL.