Manipur stuns defending champion Punjab

Exciting quarterfinal matches at the Hockey India-14th Senior National Men's Championship with Manipur causing a major upset.

After eight days of largely one-sided matches in the Group stage of the Hockey India-14th Senior National men’s championship, the quarterfinal ties at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Wednesday turned out to be really absorbing with nearly all the matches going down the wire.

Of the four last-eight contests, two went to penalty shoot-outs and the remaining two were engaging.

In the biggest upset of the tournament, Manipur knocked out defending champion Punjab via tiebreaker (3-3 in regulation time and 4-3 in shoot-out). Later, Odisha entered its first semifinals, with a hard-fought victory over Karnataka in shoot-out (3-1). Haryana, two-time champion and last year’s finalist, staged a remarkable comeback to script a 5-1 win — inclusive of a hat-trick by Rohit — over Maharashtra.

Trailing 0-1 till the third quarter, Haryana scored all its five goals in the fourth quarter. However, it was heartbreak for the host as Uttar Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu 3-1.

The day, however, belonged to Manipur. It is the first time in the history of Nationals a North-Eastern State has reached the last four.

“It is a historic day for us. Beating Punjab is a huge achievement.

“Our experienced players including Olympians Nilakanta Sharma, Kothajit Singh and Chinglensana Singh, quite a few senior Internationals and junior players played really well. We didn’t give up till the last,” said Manipur’s head coach Moirangthem Rinash Meitei.