The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Haryana enters final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2006

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Haryana enters final

Sports Reporter

BHIMAVARAM: Haryana and Uttar Pradesh entered the final of the DNR 12th sub junior National hockey championship defeating Orissa and host Andhra Pradesh respectively in the semifinals here on Monday.

Haryana moved around like a well-oiled machine, exhibiting a fine all-round display to outplay a depleted Orissa 2-0, while Uttar Pradesh, with an identical 2-0 margin, slammed the door on AP, which looked a disjointed team right from the beginning.

Stringent test

The stringent medical test by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to weed out overage players, had an impact on Orissa and AP, as both teams played their crucial matches without sufficient bench strength. In fact, Orissa fielded only nine players against Haryana.

Haryana tasted success in the 4th minute of the first half with Nikhil Soroha cracking a goal with an exquisite reverse hit.

Munish Rana from the right gave a timely pass to Nikhil, who, after dodging the rival defence astutely, executed the finishing act to perfection.

At half time Haryana was leading 1-0.

The second half witnessed a series of middle-field tackles and in the 50th minute, Satyavan Singh collected a pass from Balram to sound the board with ease.

The results: semifinals: Haryana 2 bt Orissa 0, Uttar Pradesh 2 bt Andhra Pradesh 0.

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