Jr Men's Hockey Nationals: Jharkhand, Odisha win to reach quarterfinals

Teams from Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu won their respective matches whereas those from Assam and Arunachal played out a draw on Day 7 of the 14th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2024 here on Sunday,

By winning their matches on Sunday, Hockey Jharkhand and Hockey Association of Odisha have reserved their berth in the quarterfinals and will face Hockey Haryana and Punjab Hockey respectively on Monday.

In the first match of the day, Hockey Jammu & Kashmir defeated Hockey Rajasthan 6-2. For Hockey Jammu & Kashmir, captain Arun Preet Singh (6’, 27’) and Zahid Shabir (24’, 48’) scored a couple of goals each whereas Jatveer Singh (35’) and Jagmeet Singh (54’) also scored one goal each. In response, Anurag Suthar (32’) and Kunal Koundal (43’) scored for Hockey Rajasthan.

In the following match, Assam Hockey and Hockey Arunachal played a 2-2 draw against each other. Parkil Alam (17’) and Hemant Borthakur (47’) scored for Assam Hockey. In response, Abhishek Yadav (39’) and Piyush Singh (56’) scored for Hockey Arunachal.

In the other match on Sunday, the Hockey Association of Odisha defeated Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey 5-2. Karan Lakra (30’, 50’) scored a couple of goals for the Hockey Association of Odisha.

Captain Jasman Munda (15’), Abhishek Topno (27’) and Deepak Pradhan (60’) also scored one goal each to take the game further away from their opponents. In reply, Pradip Mandal (16’) and Wilson Xaxa (46’) managed to score for Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey.

In another encounter on Sunday, Hockey Jharkhand outclassed their opponent Hockey Gujarat with a massive 27-0 win. Adisan Minj (12’, 16’, 35’, 56’, 58’, 59’) stood out to be the top goal scorer for Hockey Jharkhand as he charged in for six goals throughout the game on regular intervals.

Ghuran Lohra (2’, 6’, 19’, 24’, 53’) also scored five goals in the game along with Roshan Ekka (5’, 30’, 31’, 39’) and Deepak Soreng (18’, 26’, 43’, 47’) who scored four goals each to put their team in a strong position. Baraik Kamal Chik (16’, 25’, 40’) also joined his teammates to take the game away from their opponent and scored a hattrick. Sukhnath Guria (32’, 33’) scored a brave as well whereas Abhishek Tigga (5’), Sumit Barwa (15+’) and Mangra Dohdray (30’) scored one goal each.

In the last match of the day, the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu defeated Hockey Bengal 6-0. Bijay Kujur (7’, 8’, 41’) scored a hattrick for his side whereas captain Rohit Kujur (9’), Vivek Kumar Singh (37’) and Md Sakib Ali (37’) also scored one goal each to end the match on the winning side.