New Delhi: Riding high on Surdarshan Singh’s five goals, Punjab drubbed Rajasthan 10-1, while Chandigarh battled it out to pip Uttar Pradesh 2-1 for their second successive wins in the Boys’ Hockey competition of the Khelo India School Games at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.
Punjab outplayed Rajasthan team by scoring five goals in each half to lead Pool A with six points. Rajasthan protected their citadel well for first fifteen minutes but once Surdarshan breached their defence in the 16th minute, things went awry. Besides Surdarshan’s five goal blitz, other scorers for the winners were Jaspreet Singh (2), Rahul, Agyapal Singh, and Sarbjot Singh (one each). For the losers Chetan Suthar scored the lone goal. It turned out to be another big loss for Rajasthan, who lost their opener to Odisha 3-14.
In the other matches of the day, Haryana surprised favourites Odisha 2-1 and Karnataka beat Delhi 3-2.
In Pool B, Chandigarh found the going tough against Uttar Pradesh. Hashim put Chandigarh ahead in the 13th minute when he scored from a penalty corner and five minutes later Rahul converted another penalty corner to make it 2-0. Rattled Uttar Pradesh went on the offensive, but had to wait till 64th minute to reduce the margin through Suraj Singh.
Earlier in the day in Pool A, Odisha suffered a rude jolt, as they lost to Haryana 1-2. All the goals came in the fast paced first half with Haryana taking the lead in the 21st minute through Rimanshu. Four minutes later Pankaj (Jr) score a superb goal to make it 2-0.
Odisha rallied well and pulled one back as Sudeep Chirmako found the target just before the half time. In second half all attempts by Odisha to score came to naught as Haryana crowded their defence and protected the lead.
In the last match of the day in Pool B, Karnataka staged a fine rally to beat Delhi 3-2 to record their first win in two matches. For Delhi, who failed to hold on to lead twice in the match, it was their second successive defeat.
For Karnataka Chetan, Ganesh and Yashwanth chipped in with one goal each. Sushil and Rakesh scored for Delhi.
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