Chennai: The Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu needs to win by a margin of at least 40 goals to enter the last eight stage in the Senior Men’s National championship being held here.
And when it mattered most, the team raised its level of performance by several notches with a thumping 43-0 win over Andaman and Nicobar Islands to march into the quarterfinals from Pool C in style on Thursday evening.
Amid incessant rains, it rained goals as S Karthi accounted for a dozen, B P Somanna found
the target on eight occasions, Sundarapandi slotted nine, Mareeswaran (6), while Pruthvi,
Selvaraj and Shyam Kumar too joined the goal feast to complete the rout in a lop-sided contest as the weak Andaman’s defence was breached with a flurry of goals.
In other matches, Uttar Pradesh defeated Delhi Hockey, 4-1, in Pool F. Chandan Singh (4’) broke the deadlock for Uttar Pradesh Hockey followed by conversions from Arun Sahani (19’), Manish Sahani (20’) and Faraz Mohd. (26’). Govind Singh Bisht (17’) scored the lone goal for Delhi Hockey.
Hockey Karnataka defeated Tripura Hockey, 5-0, by way of forfeit in a Pool D fixture.
In another Pool D encounter, Hockey Chandigarh secured a 9-0 victory against Hockey Uttarakhand. Sumit (7’, 8’), Paramvir Singh (12’, 15’) and Amandeep (18’, 26’) registered braces while Surinder Singh (35’), Mohit (37’) and Manjinder Singh (59’) also added to the tally.
In Pool B, Hockey Mizoram defeated Telangana Hockey, 2-1, in their first match of the campaign.
Notably, Venkatesh Telugu (18’) gave Telangana Hockey the lead, before Stalin Abilash C’s (46’, 49’) late brace secured the win for Hockey Mizoram.
Hockey Madhya Pradesh defeated Hockey Andhra Pradesh 17-0, in Pool C. Shreyas Dhupe
(13’, 22’, 29’, 36’, 41’) was the top scorer with five goals. Sourabh Pashine (38’, 53’, 57’) secured a hat-trick while Captain Yousuf Affan (12’, 30’), Sushil Dhanwar (18’, 51’) and Mohammad Zaid Khan (30’, 46’) scored braces. Armaan Qureshi (17’), Mohd Umar (27’) and Mohd Nizamuddin (33’) also contributed a goal each.
