Punjab, Haryana enter KIYG U-17 hockey semi-finals

Mumbai, Jan 10 (Punjab Post Bueau) –  Punjab and Haryana recorded big wins to enter the boys Under-17 semi- finals of the Khelo India Youth Games hockey tournament at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.

            Completing the line-up in this section were Uttar Pradesh and Odisha who also had easy closing pool engagements.

            In Pool B, Punjab thrashed Jharkhand 9-4 and Haryana overpowered Chandigarh 4-0. In Pool A Uttar Pradesh put it across Maharashtra 5-3 and Odisha downed Delhi 3-1 .

            Simranjot Singh with three goals led the way for Punjab who were ahead 5-1 at half time. The other goal scorers were Ajaypal Singh (2) Arshdeep Singh (Jr), Prabhsimranjeet Singh, Aryan Walia and Arshdeep Singh, while Prem Karketta (2) Shet Topno, Bilsan Kindo (one each) scored for the for the losing side.

            Haryana played attacking hockey to outlast Chandigarh. For the winners, who led 1-0 at half-time, the goal-getters were Yogesh Singh (2), Tanuj Saroha,and Ankit.

In the morning, Uttar Pradesh were sitting pretty on a 4-0 lead over Maharashtra before the hosts fought back to make it 3-4. The match looked headed for a stalemate before the UP boys pumped in a last-minute winner to emerge unbeaten in the group.

            UP’s goals came from Ajay Yadav and Deepak Patel (two each) and Anand Saurabh, while Dhairyashil Jadhav (2) and Kunal Dhamal reduced the margin for the hosts.

            Odisha took a commanding 3-0 lead in the first half against Delhi with goals from Bikash Kujur, Sudeep Minz and Deepak Ekka. Pankaj scored the lone goal for Delhi off a 53rd minute penalty corner.

Results declared U17 Boys is Haryana 4 – Chandigarh 0, Punjab 9 – Jharkhand 4, Odisha 3 – Delhi 1 and Uttar Pradesh 5 – Maharashtra 3

 

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