Punjab Hockey League: Roundglass Hockey Academy and SAI Sonipat win big to remain on top of the table

Mohali, Sep 7 (IANS) Roundglass Hockey Academy and Sports Authority of India National Centre of Excellence, Sonipat secured commanding victories against SDAT Hockey Academy, Tamil Nadu and Namdhari Hockey Academy to consolidate their positions on top of the table after day six of the second edition of the Punjab Hockey League (U 21) which is being played here at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium.

Naval Tata Academy jumped to third in the table with a thrilling 4-3 victory over SGPC Hockey Academy, Amritsar.

Roundglass Hockey Academy and SAI Sonipat, with 17 points and 15 points respectively are in first and second while Naval Tata Academy, Jamshedpur are third in the table with 10 points, as PIS Surjit Hockey Academy, Jalandhar moved into fourth with nine points. Namdhari Hockey Academy dropped down to fifth place with 8 points and SGPC Hockey Academy (5 points), SDAT Hockey Academy (5 points) and Ghumanhera Risers Hockey Academy, New Delhi (3 points) occupied the remaining spots.

In the first match of the day, Roundglass Hockey Academy thrashed SDAT Hockey Academy 10-3 in a commanding performance. It was SDAT who took the lead in the third minute of the game through S. Vishal but RGHA took the lead in the first quarter itself through goals from Gursewak Singh and Japnit Singh. They scored four in the second quarter to increase the lead through Jobanpreet Singh, Sukhmanpreet Singh, Gurwinder Singh and Varinder Singh. SDAT reduced the deficit through goals from S. Krishnan and M. Sugumar but Gurwinder Singh scored again for RGHA to take the game completely away from their opposition. RGHA added three more goals in the final quarter through Jobanpreet Singh, Japnit Singh and Prince Singh to complete their dominant win.

In the most exciting match of the day, Naval Tata Hockey Academy edged past SGPC Hockey Academy to move into third place in the table. A brace from Tintus Hemrom saw Naval Tata take a two-goal lead before the first half but the lead was halved by SGPC from a goal by Harwinder Singh in the final minute of the second half. Ashish Tani Purti scored a brace in the third quarter to make the scores 4-1 but SGPC clawed back in the final quarter with goals from Harwinder Singh and Diljeet Singh making the scores 4-3, as Naval Tata held on to their one goal lead to secure the win.

In another high-scoring match, PIS Surjit Hockey Academy beat Ghumanhera Risers Hockey Academy 7-1 for their third victory in the league. Abhishek Gorkhi scored a brace while Charanjeet Singh, Manroop Singh, Karan Singh, Ajaypal Singh and Navdeer Kumar scored the other goals for the winners. Prikshit scored the consolation goal for Ghumanhera Risers.

--IANS

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