Manipur beats Bengal; Uttar Pradesh qualifies for quarterfinals

Manipur defeats Bengal 3-1 in Hockey India.

In a potential clash to decide the table-topper, Manipur blunted Bengal’s challenge 3-1 in a Pool H contest of the 14th Hockey India senior National men’s championship at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday. While Bengal completed its three matches with a sole defeat, an unbeaten Manipur will take on Assam on Monday in its final group match.

In Pool F, Uttar Pradesh scored its third straight win and qualified for the quarterfinals with a 11-1 victory over Jammu & Kashmir.

For all its dominance throughout the tie, Manipur could find the target only as late as the third quarter when Rabichandra Singh scored off a penalty corner. From there on, it was largely Manipur’s show. Bengal was at the receiving end for the major part. It did have its chances but in the final third and failed.

The results: Pool A: Punjab 8 (Gurjinder Singh 8, 11, Jobanpreet Singh 14, Surdarshan Singh 38, 39, Pardeep Singh 42, 50, Gursahibjit Singh 44) bt Dadra Nagar and Daman & Diu 0.

B: Haryana 5 (Pankaj 29, Joginder Singh 32, 48, Deepak 35, Rajinder Singh 37) bt Telangana 1 (Venkatesh Telugu 58).

F: Uttar Pradesh 11 (Vishnukant Singh 13, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay 14, 39, 50, Atul Deep 16, Chandan Singh 22, Faraz Mohd. 30, 57, Iktidar Ishrat 40, Arun Sahani 52, Jay Prakash Patel 60) bt J&K 1 (Karanjit Singh 8); Delhi 6 (Dheeraj Vats 4, 28, Govind Singh Bisht 19, Nitesh 22, 41, 44) bt Kerala 1 (Rishabh Kushwaha 41).

H: Assam 4 (Abdul Qadir 10, 30, 40, Aniket Tiwari 44) bt Bihar 1 (Ravi Kumar 21); Manipur 3 (Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh 39, Nilakanta Sharma 45, Cyril Lugun 55) bt Bengal 1 (Nitesh Neupane 51).