Odisha begin junior hockey national with win, UP, Punjab also log victories

Jalandhar, Aug 17 (PTI) Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana secured victories in division A of the junior men's national hockey championship while Chandigarh and Delhi earned promotion to division A, here Sunday.

In the first division A fixture of the day, Odisha came back from a goal deficit to edge past Karnataka 2-1.

Nitesh Sharma (37') scored the opening goal for Karnataka but Ritik Lakra (50') and Aryan Xess (51') scored in the final quarter to help Odisha bag three points in their first match of the tournament.

Haryana registered a dominant 5-0 victory over Manipur in Pool C. Sunil (15'), Chirag (27'), Navraj Singh (50'), Rahul (56') and Ansh Kamboj (59') were the goalscorers for Haryana.

Uttar Pradesh blanked Jharkhand 2-0 in Pool B. Ujjwal Pal (26') scored from a penalty corner in the second quarter followed by a field goal from Satyam Pandey (32') in the third quarter to seal the win for UP.

Punjab enjoyed a 3-2 win over Madhya Pradesh in Pool A. Om Rajnesh Saini (3'), Lovenoor Singh (14') and Japnit Singh (41') scored goals for Punjab. Mohd Anas (19') and Sohil Ali (39') scored the two goals for MP.

Chandigarh and Delhi won in Pool A and Pool B respectively to earn promotion to division 'A' for the next year.

Himachal and Assam were relegated to division C. PTI AT AM AT AM AM