Jalandhar school strokes out Birsa Munda to lift title

New Delhi,Oct 31 (UNI) Govt.School,Harnam Dass Pura,Jalandhar survived some anxious moments before stroking out former champion Birsa Munda Vidyapitha,Rourkela 4-2 via tie breaker to win the 25th Nehru Sub Junior boys hockey tournament here today.

Earlier Rupinder Singh slammed three goals as Spring Dale,Amritsar staged a dramatic come from behind rally to beat Malwa Khalsa School,Ludhiana 4-2 to take the third place.

Birsa Munda boys were unlucky not to have scored in the regulation period despite having major share of the ball.

Jalandhar boys adopted defensive tactics and managed to ward off several incisive moves by the rivals.The winners also made some good counter attacks which rattled the Birsa Munda defenders.

The Rourkela team had few good chances but their forwards could not get past the crowded defence. As there was no goal till the end of the regular period.Tie breaker was enforced in which Jalandhar team emerged victorious.

The winners converted four strokes in a row while the losers could convert only the second and third strokes, and as the result was clear (4-2) the fifth stroke was not taken.

For Jalandhar, Gursahib Singh,Gaurav Sehgal,Satbir Singh and Sukhmanjeet Singh converted their strokes.

Arbin Barla and Amonmius Tirkey converted for the losers while James Munda and David Minz muffed their first and fourth strokes respectively.

The victory earned Jalandhar team a cheque of Rs 96,000 while the runners up received Rs 64,000.

In the match for the third place,Spring Dale after trailing 0-2 till the 44th minute staged a superb rally and scored four goals in a space of 22 minutes to overpower Malwa Khalsa School, 4-2.

Gagandeep Singh scored a brace for the losers ,giving them a lead in the 4th minute and then increasing it in the 44th minute However Rupinder singh drew parity for Amritsar by converting penalty corners in the 45th and 49th minutes(2-2) Harmeet Singh then put Spring Dale ahead in the 55th minute and Rupinder converted another penalty corner in the 67th minute to seal the match in Spring Dale's favoure.

Spring Dale received a cheque of Rs 32,000 for their effort.

Title winning team coach Sukhwinder Singh received a cheque of Rs 8,000 while coaches Bijay Lakra(runners up) and Balwinder Singh (third place) received Rs 5,000 and Rs 3000 respectively.

UNI