Hosts Lucknow in semi-final with big win
Hosts and defending champions Lucknow stormed into the semi-finals of the State Under-14 Boys Hockey semi-finals, crushing Jhansi by 9-1, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium here on Sunday. Et aw ah, Kar amp ur and Ghazipur too moved into the last four.
Lucknow lads had a tough time in the opening half when they could convert two opportunities into goal. Captain Jahid struck in the sixth minute, whereas Abhishek Sonker extended the lead in the 24th minute (2-0).
But after a change in the ends, Jhansi’s defence wall came crashing and it was a free going for the hosts forwards. Jahid and Abhishek struck a goal each further, whereas Alok Mishra struck a brace. S Ali, Sandeep Kumar and Akash Yadav shared three goals between them.
In the match between Etawah and Rampur, the situation too wasn’t different. The winners dominated the proceedings from the very beginning and scored goals on regular intervals before winning by 9-1.
Hasan, Kaif, Mohit and Nitish scored two goals each, whereas Shailendra found the target just once. For Rampur, Aman Ali scored the consolation goal.
Favourites Karampur too scored an identical 9-1 win against Vision Academy, Meerut in other quarterfinal of the day. Manoj remained the star performer for the winners, strik- ing four goals. Ajit and Rahul shared four goals between them, whereas Trilok netted one. Rohit Chaudhary scored the only goal for the losers.
However, the match between Ghazipur and Ghaziabad turned out to be the most exciting one. Krishan Mohan put the winners head with a field goal in the 18th minute (1-0), before Ayuish (23rd) and Sambhav (29th) struck for Ghaziabad to help the side lead by 2-1 at the break.
Captain Akash Pal scored both the goals in the second half to fashion Ghazipur’s win. First he converted a penalty stroke in the 35th minute, and then scored a field goal in the 57th minute.
On Monday, Kar amp ur will take on Etawah in the first semi-final at 1.30 p.m., whereas Lucknow meet Ghazipur in the second semifinal at 3.00 p.m.