7th Junior Men's C'ships: Hockey Odisha beat Bengal Hockey 6-2

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], Apr 20 (ANI): Hockey Odisha beat Bengal Hockey Association 6-2 in the opening day of the 7th Junior National Championships 2017 (Men) 'A' Division at Aishbagh Stadium here on Thursday. In the day's opening game from Pool A, Suraj Minz opened the scoring for Hockey Odisha in the 9th minute and doubled the lead and his tally with another in the 18th minute. Sudhir Kujur (28', 48') also scored a brace in Hockey Odisha's victory. Bengal Hockey Association's goals were scored by, Nitish Neupane (31') and Ritam Holme Chowdhary (67'). Meanwhile, Sports Authority of India defeated Hockey Haryana 3-0 in Pool C. Budu Tuti opened the scoring for Sports Authority of India in the 12th minute. It was the only goal of the half, as they took the lead into the half time. Raushan Kumar (53') and Mohd Umar (65') added two more goals in the second half, to give Sports Authority of India the victory. In Pool C's second game of the day, Hockey Chandigarh beat Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 5-2. Mohd Alishan opened the scoring for Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy in the 11th minute of the game. Within the next five minutes though, Hockey Chandigarh had hit back with two of their own via Maninder Singh (15') and Shahibjeet Singh (23'). Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy scored the leveler in the 26th minute with a Shreyas Dhupe PC conversion to go into half time level. In the second half, Hockey Chandigarh came out firing and Sanjay's hat trick (51', 56', 58') off a slew of penalty corner conversions turned the game in their favour, giving them the crucial 3 points.(ANI)