National Men’s Hockey Championship: Tamil Nadu reaches quarters; Haryana, Odisha win big

Haryana’s Sanjay was the star player of the match, scoring six goals against Gujarat.

Mareeswaran Sakthivel (Blue jersey-9) Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu in action against Himachal during the 13th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2023 at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, Egmore in Chennai on Sunday. | Photo Credit: B.Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

Defending champion Haryana opened its campaign with a mammoth 22-1 win over Gujarat in a Pool A match of the Hockey India-13th Senior National men’s hockey championship here on Sunday.

Sanjay was the star player of the match, scoring six goals.

Host Tamil Nadu won both its matches, defeating Assam and Himachal to top its group and reach the quarterfinals. Tamil Nadu has been playing well in the Nationals, and it has been really efficient in making penalty corners count, which is a good sign in the knock-out stage. TN can take enough rest as the quarterfinals begin on November 25.

In the last match of the day, Odisha thumped Arunachal 27-0 in a Pool H match.

The results

Pool A: Haryana 22 (Deepak 4, Sumit 6, Vishal Antil 9, 38, Sanjay 10, 27, 29, 34, 45+57, Kohinoopreet Singh 11, Abhishek 13, 17, 21, 51, Mandeep Mor 15, Rajant 18, 42, Manpreet 23, Yashdeep Siwach 33, 60, Joginder Singh 38) bt Gujarat 1 (Yash Mahendrabhai Rathod 44).

B: TN 13 (B. P. Somanna 4, S. Mareeswaran 5, 48, 51, G. M. Pruthvi 8, K. Selvaraj 9, 28, 50, C. Dinesh Kumar 11, 57, S. Karthi 27, 34, Sundarapandi 44) bt Himachal 1 (Shubham 55)

C: Karnataka 5 (Shesha Gowda 33, B. Yathish 43, Nachappa Ir 47, B. Sudev Abharan 56, Raheel Mouseen Mohd. 60) bt Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu 0.

H: Delhi 6 (Abhishek Rana 7, Rahul Garai 22, Aman Khan 40, Gursimran Singh 57, Vashudev 58, 60) bt Telangana 1 (Ranjit Chand Bhavani 49); Odisha 27 (Nilam Xess 2, 3, 15, 32, Matiyas Dang 4, 34, 47, 54, 60, Ashis Kumar Topno 11, 25, 49, Prasad Kujur 13, 14, 39, 53, Shilanand Lakra 18, 22, 44, Amit Rohidas 20, 37, 53, Rosan Minz 25, Kerobin Lakra 28, Rajan Kandulna 37, 51, Prajukt Nas 56).