UP boys win hockey title at KIYG

LUCKNOW : A day after winning silver medal in the boys under-17 category, favourites Uttar Pradesh boys on Tuesday lifted the glittering under-21 trophy in the hockey event at the Khelo India Youth Games 2020 at Guwahati, defeating Haryana 3-1 in penalty shootout.

The under-21 girls title went to Haryana, who defeated Jharkhand 5-3 later in the day, which witnessed the latter thrice equalize, only to concede twice in the last nine minutes, at the Maulana Md Tayabullah Hockey Stadium.

The bronze medal in the under-21 boys category went to Odisha, who defeated Chandigarh 3-1 in a penalty shootout after two teams tied at 5-5 at the end of the regulation time. In the under-21 girls category, Maharashtra broke Mizoram’s hearts as they won by a solitary goal.

.Haryana, which has a 3-2 win in a pool game earlier in the tournament, found Uttar Pradesh men quite tough even though the two teams tried to cut down on the number of circle penetrations, and were successful in doing so as they ended the regulation time as goalless.

However, in penalty shootout Uttar Pradesh prevailed as Vishnu Kant Singh, Uttam Singh and Gopi Kumar Sonkar converted their chances, with their goalkeeper Pawan denying opponents’ Abhishek, Mohit and Pankaj Jr a chance to score to help his side win by 3-1.

In the bronze medal match in the category, Odisha and Chandigarh produced an entertaining match with the two teams scoring five goals each in regulation time. Odisha, who even after trailing by 1-3 after the first 25 minutes made a great comeback to level the scores at 4-4 after 44 minutes, and then scored a fifth in the 59th minute to turn the match around.

However, Chandigarh’s too scored a goal in the last minute to make it 5-5 and take the tie into the penalty shootout. Samir Ekka (15’, 28’), Abhisek Lakra (38’), Rahul Ekka (44’) and Amandeep Lakra (59’) scored for Odisha, whereas Maninder Singh (25’, 36’), Diljeet Singh (9’), Harpreet Singh (13’) and Sanjay (60’) netted for Chandigarh. In the shootout, Odisha’s goalkeeper Sahil Kumar Nayak saved the first three attempts and Sushil Dhanwar, Sunit Lakra and Krishna Tirkey scored, to win the bronze for their team.

HOWEVER, IN PENALTY SHOOTOUT UTTAR PRADESH PREVAILED AS VISHNU KANT SINGH, UTTAM SINGH AND GOPI KUMAR SONKAR CONVERTED THEIR CHANCES, WITH THEIR GOALKEEPER PAWAN DENYING OPPONENTS’ ABHISHEK, MOHIT AND PANKAJ JR A CHANCE TO SCORE TO HELP HIS SIDE WIN BY 3-1