Panaji
Goans Hockey trounced Hockey Gujarat 6-0 to register a rare win in the Hockey India senior men championship at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium Chennai on Monday evening.
With the win Goans Hockey finished third in the four-team group, with Hockey Maharashtra topping the group on account of better goal difference and qualifying for the next stage of the championship over Hockey Jharkhand which finished second.
Both Jharkhand and Maharashtra finished with seven points each, but Maharashtra qualified on account of the 37 goals scored and two conceded record as against Jharkhand tally of 23 scored and five goals against them.
Goans Hockey finished third in the group behind Jharkhand, with three points for the lone win over Gujarat and two losses.
Goans Hockey scored seven goals and conceded eight goals in the process. Goans Hockey lost first to Jharkhand 3-1 and in the second match were trounced by Hockey Maharashtra 4-0.
On Monday, Goans Hockey goals came through the efforts of Suyesh Mayekar (Penalty Corner, 2nd minute), Vasu Dev (Penalty Corner, 7th), Ayyaz Khan (Penalty Stroke, 17th), Abhishek Pathak (Field Goal, 29th), and a brace by Issub Sayyed (Penalty Corner, 39th and field goal, 60th).
The win was the first one for Goans Hockey after a gap of six years. Goans Hockey last won against Hockey Bihar at the 8th Hockey India National Championship held in Imphal Manipur in January 2018, with Goans winning the seven-goal thriller 4-3.
With yesterday’s win, Goans Hockey took their win tally to two matches in the 14 editions of the Hockey India championship, the first edition which was held in 2011.
Yesterday’s win was a sweet revenge for four players Swapnil Haldankar, Ayyaz Khan, Sayyed and Abbusaliya Havaldar who were all part of the Goans Hockey team of 2021 which lost to Gujarat 4-3 and had their revenge in the Monday’s win over the same opponents.
Coach of the present team Riyaz Kambali incidentally was part of the 2021 team as a player.
