Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Hockey Haryana won the 12th Hockey India National Senior Men's Hockey Championship that concluded at Dhyanchand stadium here on Sunday beating Tamil Nadu 3-1 in shoot-out after the match time.
The match time, however, ended in a tie with both the teams scoring one goal each. The winner was decided by a shoot-out post the match time.
Both teams were given four chances to hit goals. While Tamil Nadu could convert only one of the opportunities into a goal, Haryana scored three out of four to claim the trophy.
About 800 players from 27 teams of the country participated in the competition. The match for the third place was also played on Sunday between Hockey Maharashtra and Hockey Karnataka, which the latter won 4-3.
The chief guest of the final match was former DGP MP Vivek Johri and Gyanendro Ningombam, president, Hockey India, attended the final as a special guest.
Johri congratulated the players who took part in the championship and those who won the final. He further said that the final was one of the most exciting hockey matches he had seen in quite a few months.
He then presented awards to the winners. He also felicitated all 21 judges of the match. In the fourth minute of the first quarter of the final, Haryanaís Deepak scored a penalty corner to give his team a 1-0 lead. In the 10th minute of the match, Tamil Nadu player Sarvan Kumar scored a field goal to equal the scores.
None of them could score any goal in the entire match minutes thereafter.
The winner was then decided by a shoot-out in which Haryanaís Somjeet, Prabhajot Singh and Pankaj scored one goal each while Tamil Naduís Dhanush M scored one for his team, losing the finale.
Tamil Nadu had reached the final after 22 years, performing its best. Haryanaís goalkeeper Mayank Sharma played an important role in the win.
