Chandigarh: Jaypee Punjab Warriors registered their second win on their home turf on Sunday defeating Dabang Mumbai 3-1 in the seventh match of the 4th edition of Coal India Hockey India League. The match which was being played at the sector 42 Hockey Stadium Chandigarh, saw the home team bounce back with the win and moved to the top of the league table with 11 points in their kitty.
The first quarter of the match began with Jaypee Punjab Warriors attacking Dabang Mumbai, whose defence was caught off guard. The home team scored their first goal through young Indian forward Armaan Qureshi in the 9th minute giving him his first goal of the tournament and his team a 2-0 lead. The second quarter saw a tightened defence from Dabang Mumbai but in the 21st minute a penalty corner conversion by Christopher Ciriello put the match strongly in favour of the Punjab team with the score line at 3-0. The score stayed at 3-0 till the end of the first half.
The second half saw Dabang Mumbai enter the field reenergised, as they started pressing hard on Jaypee Punjab Warriors. The change in the tactics paid off for the visitors with a penalty corner in the 39th minute which was excellently converted by the rising Indian drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh reducing the gap by a goal. The third quarter ended with the score at 3-1 still in favour of Jaypee Punjab Warriors. The fourth quarter saw many chances being created by both the sides but both the goalkeepers stood strong foiling all attempts from either sides. The home team’s defence held their nerve till the end of the last quarter and the match ended with the score of 3-1 giving the Jaypee Punjab Warriors their second win in front of their home crowd.
The Coal India Goal of the Match award of INR 50,000 was presented by Mr. BK Upadhyay, Regional Sales Manager, Coal India Limited, to Armaan Qureshi from Jaypee Punjab Warriors, while Dabang Mumbai goalkeeper David Harte walked away with the Most Entertaining Player of the Match award. Tristan Clemons, Jaypee Punjab Warriors goalkeeper won the Man of the Match award of INR 50,000 while his team mate Varun Kumar won the INR 25,000 Hero Emerging Player of the Match award.
The next match of the 4th Coal India Hockey India League will be played between the Uttar Pradesh Wizards and Kalinga Lancers at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium, Lucknow on 25th January, 2016. The six team annual franchise based hockey league, the flagship event of Hockey India - the apex body governing the sport in the country and sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is being played across six venues in India from 18th January - 21st February 2016.
