Hosts UP retain ‘Babu’ hockey trophy in style
LUCKNOW: It remained the same old story in the final of the 29th All-India KD Singh ‘Babu’ subjunior hockey tournament as defending champions and hosts Uttar Pradesh retained the cup, outplaying Shahbad 5-0, at the Padamshree Mohd Shahid stadium here on Monday.
The winners received the biggest purse of Rs 50,000, whereas Shahbad had to satisfy with Rs 30,000. Cheema Academy, which defeated Mohali 5-2 in the hardline match got Rs 20,000. Himanshu, Brijesh Prasad, Harpreet Singh and Shahrukh Ali were given special awards.
In the match between UP and Shahbad, the difference of dominance was clear as hosts carrying the ball well with effective finish at the end. On the contrary, Shahbad mostly relying on forwards Harmanpreet and Abhishek never found the going easy as these two always found UP defenders tackling them well at the goalmouth.
There were hardly a few chances in the 60-minute duel final when Shahbad boys posed some threat for the home side. Shahrukh Ali remained the star performer for the winners, netting a brace in the second half, after Ajit Yadav and Aman Kushwaha scoring a goal each. Sajal Saxena rounded off the tally at the stroke of the hooter. In contrast to the final, the hard-line match was quite a thriller as Cheema Academy had just one-goal lead at the break (3-2). But after a change in the ends, they shot two more goals to finish their campaign in style. Manwinder scored three goals, whereas Gurmeet Singh and Harmol Bir shared two goals between them. For Mohali, Prem Singh scored both the goals.
GIRLS TEAM
Uttar Pradesh Hockey has declared its 18-member team for the sub-junior national girls hockey championship, beginning next week. The team include Anjani Shukla, Kareena, Swati Negi, Yasmeen, Swati Nigam, Kamini Tyagi, Vinamrata Yadav, Akansha, Ameesh Yadav, Nazia, Mansi, Varsha Arya, Ranjana, Nidhi Sahani, Sadhana Yadav, Akansha Baghel, Kajal Prajapati and Swati Kumari.