Sr Men's National Hockey: Odisha, Puducherry, Jharkhand and Maharashtra emerge victorious on Day 7

The seventh day of the 14th Hockey India Senior Men's National Championship, held at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai, featured victories by Hockey Association of Odisha, Le Puducherry Hockey, Hockey Jharkhand, and Hockey Maharashtra in their respective pool matches.

In the first clash of the day, the Hockey Association of Odisha defeated Hockey Arunachal 9-0, in Pool E. Amandeep Lakra (5’, 25’), Ajay Kumar Ekka (15’, 50’) and Kerobin Lakra (47’, 53’) scored twice each while Nilam Sanjeep Xess (11’), Pratap Lakra (23’), and Sudeep Chirmako (35’) scored once for Hockey Association of Odisha.

Le Puducherry Hockey defeated Hockey Rajasthan, 13-2. For Le Puducherry Hockey, T. Arun Kumar (3’, 21’, 25’, 26’), Mahendran P (2’, 7’, 29’, 32’) and R Ranjith (8’, 37’, 42’, 50’) netted four goals each along with a contribution from captain Veerathamizan V (55’). Captain Virendra Singh (15’) and Keshav Pandey (47’) were the scorers for Hockey Rajasthan.

In Pool G, Hockey Jharkhand defeated Hockey Gujarat, 18-2. For Hockey Jharkhand, Atish Dodrai (9’, 11’, 49’, 60’) top scored with four goals while Dilbar Barla (2’, 16’, 38’) and captain Simon Badra (18’, 23’, 42’) scored a hat-trick. Daniyal Soy (37’, 45’) registered a brace along with goals from Junul Purti (17’), Sunil Xaxa (26’) Birsa Oreya (28’), Michael Topno (31’), Anurud Bhengra (34’) and Joseph Topno (59’). For Hockey Gujarat, Meet Gajera (5’) and Neel Ajay Patel (25’) were the goal scorers.

In another Pool G fixture, Hockey Maharashtra defeated Goans Hockey, 5-0. All five goals were scored in the first half of the match with Captain, Devindar Sunil Walmiki (2’) giving Maharashtra the early lead. Pratap Shinde (17’), Aditya Lalage (21’), Aniket Gurav (23’), and Ajinkya Jadhav (26’) also converted chances.