Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Railways win in National Hockey

Jalandhar, Oct 20 (UNI) Strong contenders Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Delhi began their campagin in the Dainik Bhaskar-Tracer 62nd Senior National Hockey Championship with impressive wins on the opening day here today.

Former champions Railways and Services too won their encounters, though they failed to impress. Another title contender Indian Airlines got a walkover as their opponents Nagaland failed to turn up.

Playing before their home crowd after a gap of 25 years at the Olympian Surjit hockey stadium here, Punjab thrashed Chattisgarh 8-0, with drag flick expert Jugraj Singh converting three penalty corners in the 28th, 31st and 44th minutes of play.

Ranjodh Singh got a brace, while Olympian Baljit Singh Dhillon (19th), Avtar Singh Senior (35th) and Kuljit Sngh (51st) scored a goal apiece.

In another pool A outing, Indian Universties and Maharashtra played a 3-3 draw and split points. Maharashtra's Santosh scored two goals in the 11th and 21st minutes. In the 29th minute Sunder Singh reduced the margin by scoring Universities' first goal.

Mousam Doshi made it 3-1 for Maharastra with a field goal in the 33rd minute. In the 34th minute Combined Universities Yadwinder Singh reduced the margin by converting a penalty corner (2-3). Yadwinder Singh again converted a penalty corner eight minutes before the hooter to draw level.

In another match here, Mumbai outplayed Vidharbha 6-0 in a pool C outing. Ayesur (5th and 31st minutes), T Fernadez (14th), Manish Rahi (24th), J Yadav (39th) and Rajiv Thatkar (66th) were the goal-getters.

In the last match here, Karnataka defeated Madhya Pradesh 5-2, after remaining locked 1-1 at the breather.

At the GNDU campus in Amritsar, former champions Railways recorded an unimpressive 3-0 win over a lowly placed Pondicherry.

The winners led 2-0 at half time through goals by Sham Alam (12th) and Harish Kumar (23rd).R Chaturvedi rounded off the tally for his team in the 53rd minute. Railways got 11 penalty corners but failed to convert any of them.

Hyderabad aided by two goals each from K M Cenhappa and K K Berta, Hyderabad thrashed Madhya Bharat 7-1. The Chandigarh-Uttaranchal match was washed away due to rain and would be replayed on October 22.

In the matches held at PAU campus Ludhiana, Tamilnadu thrashed Gujarat 15-0, Haryana scraped past Kerala 3-1 while former champions Services recorded an unimpressive 5-3 win over lowly Mizoram. Bengal got a walkover as their opponents Bhopal failed to turn up. Gujarat were virtually put to the sword by Tamilnadu, for whom Mohendra scored four goals, while Gopi Nath accounted for three. The winners led 6-0 at half time.

In the second match, Haryana trailing 0-1 rallied to down Kerala 3-1. Kerala took the lead through Suresh Kumar soon after the breather but seven minutes later Haryana drew level through Ajit Singh who scored off a penalty corner.

Haryana forged ahead in the 40th minute, when Rajiv Panchal converted a penalty corner. Sandeep rounded off the tally for the winners in the 66th minute, converting a penalty stroke.

The Services-Mizoram encounter was a lacklustre affair, with the latter emerging winners 5-3.

In the matches played at Bhaini Sahib, Delhi hammered Tripura 18-2 while Jharkhand beat Himachal Pradesh 4-0. Uttar Pradesh were held to a 3-3 draw by Jammu and Kashmir. The fourth match was awarded to Indian Airlines as their opponents Nagaland failed to turn up.

UNI