BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy has won Junior Boys’ Inter-academy National Hockey Championship defeating Raja Karan Hockey academy 3-1 here on Wednesday.
This is the second consecutive championship trophy won by MP dribblers at the Hockey India National tournament, after winning in the sub-junior category.
In the first quarter of the finale, both the teams kept it tight and couldn’t score a single goal. In the second quarter coach Samir Dad sent the team into the field with a new strategy that earned them two goals in 19th and 20th minute.
Shreyas from MP hit another penalty corner at 39th minute and gave the team a lead of 3-0. The opposing team converted a penalty shootout into a goal in the fourth quarter, which was their only goal for the day.
Winning Madhya Pradesh Hockey team poses with minister of sports and youth welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia | FP
In the bronze medal of the championship, Namdhari XI defeated Roundglass Punjab Hockey Academy 6-4. Both the teams scored one goal each in first and second quarters of the match. Roundglass Punjab scored two consecutive goals to give the team a lead of 3-1. However, Namdhari bounced back and scored three goals one after the other.
The teams went into attack-mode in the last quarter with Namdhari scoring a goal in 57th minute that led to their win. Captain of the winning team Rajinder Singh scored a hat-trick while Mokhram Singh scored a brace for the team.
Minister of sports and youth welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia and Padmshri badminton player Pullela Gopichand felicitated the winners of the championship.
Scindia said, “The performance of the junior and sub junior teams of the academy at the National Championship is rejuvenating and is a comeback of hockey in Madhya Pradesh.”
The players of the sub-junior and junior teams were awarded with Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively for their performance.
