PANAJI
A highly anticipated clash between Hockey Goa and Hockey Punjab saw the North Indian side crash Goa’s hopes of the quarterfinal appearance with the final score line reading 12-0, in the 12th Hockey India sub-junior men’s National championship played at Hockey Astro Turf, at Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa, on Tuesday.
A dominant first half display with 3 goals being scored by Punjab pushed back the positive mindset of the home side as they soon started playing defensive and the errors just piled up to a point the ball couldn’t quite find the stick of the Goa player.
A rather forgettable first quarter for the coastal side was followed by a second half where Goa did show some fight and spirit only for it to end a goalless quarter for either side with the score line still reading 3 goals to Punjab and none to Goa.
The third quarter begun with Goa losing possession very loosely which soon led to their downfall as the Punjab side scored 3 consecutive goals in three consecutive minutes followed by 2 more late 3rd quarter goals only to add the nail to the coffin to a possible Goa comeback.
A helpless looking Goa side ate another four goals with Punjab thrashing the hosts in a very one sided contest. The Goan defence went all guns blazing to block in star player Manpreet Singh of Punjab but let the wing loose which Punjab capitalised upon to take a massive 12 goal win by the end of the four quarters. The hosts did have the advantage of being the home side but the boys from Punjab are a force to be reckoned with as a unit and Goa today faced their wrath.
Earlier, Day 7 kicked off with Hockey Bengal scoring a decisive 4-1 victory over Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu. Bengal youngster Karan Shaw, Ayush Prasad and Aman Thakur. Tamil Nadu scored a goal in the dying minutes of the third quarter while a slow yet entertaining fourth quarter saw Bengal add another goal to take up their tally to 4-1 for the match.
In another match, Hockey Chandigarh defeated Assam Hockey 11-2.
Later in the day, Delhi Hockey thrashed Le Puducherry Hockey 13-0. Madhya Pradesh thumped Maharashtra 8-0.
