Pune: Maharashtra paid price of taking the lead and then forfeiting it to end their campaign in the 1st Hockey India Junior Men’s National hockey championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex Synthetic turf here on Monday.

After leading 1-0 till the half-time, Maharashtra lost out to Jharkhand by golden goal in what was an achievable target by all means. From captain Devendra Walmiki to centre forward Razik Shaikh, all played as if they wanted to impress the audience rather than finding a teammate in the scoring area. On the other side, Jharkhand hung on for a while before they first found an equalizer to force the match into extra-time.

Five minutes into extra-time, Rajin Kandulna collected a long pass on the right and swung himself across the field and on the run shot straight into top of the post just before he was getting too acute of the woodwork.

Rajin knew the ball was going in as he fell on the ground allowing his teammates to celebrate their semifinal qualification.

For first 24 minutes, both teams tested each other before Maharashtra got lucky to go 1-0 up when Harjeet Singh smashed in following a penalty corner. But Maharashtra squandered eight other penalty corners they earned as captain Devendra Walmiki showed no experimentation and kept himself on the job in vain.

Leading 1-0, there was no reason for the home side to allow Jharkhand an upper hand. But too much of individual play and lack of second line of attack saw Maharashtra lose grip over the match. Anil Xaxa brought cheers to Jharkhand camp in the 47th minute when he completed a field effort from the centre.

Maharashtra had a chance to go 2-1 up in the 50th minute when Walmiki set up Upendra Pillay, but the latter shot the ball wide off the right post. In the 54th minute, Maharashtra earned three back-to-back penalty corners, but Pillay’s pushes were too one-directional, which achieved nothing.

There was scrappy play for next 10 minutes before striker Nitin Kumar rushed from the centre with Walmiki on his heels. But other players were stranded in the middle before they lost control over the ball as Jharkhand defenders stone-walled their move.

Jharkhand will meet Haryana in the second semifinal after the latter defeated Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy in the last quarterfinal of the day by 5-3. This match deserved to be a summit clash with the kind of talent both teams packed, but one had to go early owing to the vagaries of the draw.

Punjab take on Odisha: Punjab captain Talwinder Singh kept his forwards on toes as he kept feeding the ball from the centre to keep both flanks busy. Sukhmanjit Singh scored twice, one each on either side of the half-time as goals came in at regular intervals.


Both teams tested each other for just about 19 minutes before penalty corner expert Sukhmanjit drew the first blood. Ajit Pandit (25th minute) and Jatinder Singh (34th) scored in a space of 10 minutes to assert Punjab’s hold over the game.

Mandeep Singh was at it soon after resumption before Sukhmanjit completed his brace. Simranjit Singh rounded off the tally in the 56th minute as Bihar struggled to find any openings. Finally, eight minutes before close, Noel Dodray found the consolation goal for Bihar.

Businesslike Odisha, which made it to the quarterfinals without breaking much sweat, disposed of Karnataka to set up a semifinal meeting with Punjab. Deepak Kullu had opened the scoring in the fifth minute before Sushil Xalxo (18th) and Mikhal Barla 27th and 33rd minutes left Karnataka reeling under the barrage of goals.

On changing ends, Karnataka went defensive and was able to hold on to Odisha more than 15 minutes before the southerners found the target through captain Thimmanna Puliyanda. Five minutes later, Ignacius Toppo went up beating three defenders before crashing the ball into the boards. Biddappa Karineravanda shot back on counterattack in the very same minute, but Karnataka’s new-found aggression was not enough to force any more goals.

Results:Quarterfinals: Punjab 6 (Sukhmanjit Singh 19th, 48th, Ajit Pandit 24th, Jatinder Singh 34th, Mandeep Singh 41st, Simranjit Singh 56th) beat Bihar 1 (Noel Dodray 62nd).

Jharkhand 2 (Anil Xaxa 47th, Rajin Kandulna 75th) beat Maharashtra 1 (Harjeet Singh 24th).

Odisha 5 (Deepak Kullu 5th, Sushil Xalxo 18th, Mikhal Barla 27th, 33rd, Ignacius Toppo 67th) beat Karnataka 2 (Thimmanna Puliyanda 62nd, Biddappa Karineravanda 67th).

Haryana 5 (Sandeep Singh 3rd, 61st, Manish Rana 19th, 56th, Navin Antil 30th) beat Madhya Pradesh 3 (Ranapratap Singh 11th, Vikas Chaudhary 34th, 40th).

Semi-final line-up:SF1: Punjab v Odisha –12 noon.
SF2: Jharkhand v Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy/Haryana –3 pm.v