In a thrilling encounter at the 14th Hockey India senior National men’s championship, Manipur emerged victorious over Bengal 3-1 in a Pool H clash. The match was a battle for the top spot in the group, with both teams entering the contest with unblemished records.
Manipur dominated the early stages of the game, but it was Bengal who struck first through Nitesh Neupane in the 51st minute. However, Manipur responded swiftly, with Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh equalizing just four minutes later. Nilakanta Sharma then put Manipur ahead in the 45th minute, and Cyril Lugun sealed the victory with a goal in the 55th minute.
Bengal had its chances throughout the match, but failed to capitalize on them. The team’s defense was also unable to contain Manipur’s attacking prowess, which proved to be the difference in the end.
In Pool F, Uttar Pradesh continued its impressive run with an 11-1 victory over Jammu & Kashmir. The win secured Uttar Pradesh’s place in the quarterfinals. Vishnukant Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay led the scoring for Uttar Pradesh with two goals each, while Atul Deep, Chandan Singh, Faraz Mohd., Iktidar Ishrat, Arun Sahani, and Jay Prakash Patel also found the back of the net.
The results of the other matches in the tournament were as follows:
* 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.
* Pool B: Haryana 5 (Pankaj 29, Joginder Singh 32, 48, Deepak 35, Rajinder Singh 37) bt Telangana 1 (Venkatesh Telugu 58).
* Pool F: Delhi 6 (Dheeraj Vats 4, 28, Govind Singh Bisht 19, Nitesh 22, 41, 44) bt Kerala 1 (Rishabh Kushwaha 41).
* Pool H: Assam 4 (Abdul Qadir 10, 30, 40, Aniket Tiwari 44) bt Bihar 1 (Ravi Kumar 21).
