All-India U-16 Hockey: Last-minute stroke halts defending champs SAIL, held to draw

Pune, Oct 2 (IANS) Defending champions SAIL Hockey Academy, Rourkela, Odisha were held to an exciting 3-3 draw by Sukhjeevan Sports Academy, Agra in the 6th SNBP All-India Hockey Tournament (Boys' Under-16) at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, on Sunday.

A last-minute penalty stroke earned by the Agra team and subsequently converted by Deonath Nanwar (59th) denied SAIL the chance to gain full points from their opening Pool-G fixture

SAIL got off to a sound start with Akash Rajbhar (6th) making it 1-0, however, Sunil Lakhra (13th) was quick to bring the match on level for Sukhjeevan Sports Academy. At the end of two quarters, the match stood on level terms.

On resumption, SAIL struck twice in a span of three minutes through Manish Kumar -- the first off a penalty corner (35th) and the next off a field goal to help his side take a 3-1 lead.

The Agra side, however, had other ideas and fought back with Yuvraj Singh (40th) striking the boards to make it 3-2 and then with just over a minute left for the hooter had Deonath (59th) make it 3-3.

The day yet again saw a deluge of goals scored with 48 goals being netted, which included a start act by Nikhil Goswami who led Kushida School, West Bengal to a 9-0 win over Bhongir Hockey Academy, Telangana.

Leading with a five-star act was, Nikhil (9th, 20th, 23rd, 30th, 50th - penalty corner), while Deepak Patel 12th, 58th; Om Pramanik 41st; Subhajit Tamang 59th added the rest.

RESULTS:

Pool-A: Kushida School, West Bengal: 9 (Nikhil Goswami 9th, 20th, 23rd, 30th, 50th (pc); Deepak Patel 12th, 58th; Om Pramanik 41st; Subhajit Tamang 59th) bt Bhongir Hockey Academy, Telangana: 0. HT 5-0

Pool-H: Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Kodagu, Kerala: 2 (Charih Shetty 48th (pc); 51st) bt Hockey Nashik: 0. HT: 0-0

Pool-E: Smart Hockey Academy, Raipur, Chhatisgarh: 9 (Raman Kumar 18th, 27th, 51st; Prince Kumar 24th, 36th, 39th; Yaduwinder Singh 32nd; Surjit Rajbhar 34th; Shubhankar Sonkar 50th) bt Tamil Nadu Hockey Association: 1 (Kishor K 52nd) HT: 3-0

Pool-G: SAIL Hockey Academy, Rourkela, Odisha: 3 (Akash Rajbhar 6th; Manish Kumar 35th (pc), 38th) drew with Sukhjeevan Sports Academy, Agra: 3 (Sunil Lakhra 13th, Yuvraj Singh 40th (pc), Deonath Nanwar 59th (ps). HT: 1-1

Pool-B: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar: 12 (Arshdeep Singh 8th; Sahibpreet Singh 13th, 17th; Harshdeep Singh 23rd, 26th, 46th; Jagjeet Singh 40th, 42nd, 60th; Gurpratap Singh 44th (pc); Jeevan Singh 48th (pc), 59th) bt Bishnupur Hockey, Manipur: 0. HT: 5-0

Pool-D: One Thousand Hockey Lega (OTHL) XI, New Delhi: 9 (Anil Kumar 2nd (pc), 46th; Shiva Chauhan 25th; Yuvraj Oraon 17th, 40th, (pc), 60th; Vivek Kumar Rathod 42nd; Bhupendra Singh 57th, 58th) bt Kolkata Warriors, Kolkata: 1 (Pushpendra Singh 35th). HT: 3-0.