*Singh Club sails to semis
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, June 25: Abdhinandan scored two goals to put Hiranagar Hockey Club into winning ways with a 3-1 triumph over Ajit Hockey Club in the first semis.
By winning the match, Hiranagar Club became the first contender to register berth in the final of the ongoing Ist Mahant Bachittar Singh Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, being organized by Mahant Bachittar Singh Hockey Club, Makhanpur Simbal under the aegis of Hockey J&K at Government High School, Simbal Camp here today by crushing their opponents.
While getting into winning form, Hiranagar Club missed a lot of chances before sealing victory with the third goal which was set up by Abhinandan in the 58th minute via penalty corner.
Ajit Club were dominant from the start, laying seize on the rival circle in the first quarter, but failed to have a good shot at the opposition goal in the first half, which ended with no goal.
In the second half, Gorav Singh of Hiranagar Club scored the first goal of the match in the 35th minute, which was widely appreciated by the audience through whistling and hooting.
As the players of Ajit Singh Hockey Club were finding gap to equalize the scorecard, Abhinandan shot on target in the 43rd minute after being fed a short pass. He beat the opposition goalkeeper with a deft placement.
Ajit Club’s Amrinder Singh managed to thwart the Hiranagar Club by crowding their territory and managed to reduce the margin in the 50th minute by 2-1 goals.
Enthusiastic Abhinandan again shot on opponent one more goal in the 58th minute after pounding opposition goalkeeper with a smart placement via penalty corner.
In the remaining 12 minutes game, players of Ajit Club strived hard and raided the opponent goal several times, but could not convert even a single raid into goal and lost the semis by 3-1 goals.
Five penalty corners were wasted as the Ajit Club eves got caught in tangle after wasting time dribbling inside the circle instead of having a crack at the goal of opponent Hiranagar Club.
Romy Singh of Hiranagar Club got 2 green cards, whereas Sandeep Singh of Hiranagar Club also got one green card.
For his marvelous defensive skills, goalkeeper of Hiranagar Club Ajay Singh was adjudged as man of the match.
Earlier, Singh Hockey Club, Bandhu Rakh faced their first real test when they took on Dashmesh Hockey Club, Nanak Nagar in the fourth quarterfinal match of the tournament and registered win by 3-2 goals.
In the first half, Harvinder Pal Singh of Singh Hockey Club, Bandhu Rakh netted the goal in the 9th minute and again pounded the opposition goal during the 17th minute.
As the players of Dashmesh Hockey Club were playing mind-games to equalize the scorecard before the end of the first half, they failed to achieve the target as it ended with 2-0 goal lead over them.
In the second half, Dashmesh Club made a good start with Daman netting a goal in the 33rd minute, followed by equalizer by Joginder Singh during the 38th minute.
After the equalizer goal, Singh Hockey Club came under fear of loosing the game, but their hope remained alive with fifth goal of the match coming from the magic hockey stick of Tarandeep Singh in the 45th minute.
After 45th minute, the players of Dashmesh Club made numerous raids to win the match, but their efforts failed to bear fruit and they lost the match by solitary goal with 3-2 score.
During the match, Singh Club got 4 penalty corners and Dashmesh Club got 2 penalty corners, but none was converted into goal.
Harvinder Pal Singh of Singh Hockey Club was declared as man of the match.
On the occasion, Major Randeep Singh and Lieutenant Colonel Nidhir Shah were special invitees, who awarded man of the match title winners in presence of GS Bakshi, Tournament Director, Jaspreet Singh, organizing secretary, Rajinder Singh sarpanch and Kunwarpreet Singh Sagar.
The matches were officiated by Daljeet Singh, Jagjeet Singh, Joginder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Karanjeet Singh.
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