NAMDHARI XI and Center of Excellence, Bhopal won their respective matches in the first All-India Ahmad Sher Khan hockey tournament being organised at SAI Centre Bishenkheri on Sunday.
On second day, the Namdhari juniors entered the stadium to challenge the home team Bhopal. Playing in front of the home crowd, the Bhopal players demonstrated excellent stick work in the first part of the match. However, the first goal came from the visitors’ side. Gurmel of the Namdhari team scored the first goal in the 14th minute of the match. Bhopal team took six minutes to equalise the score.
A wrong interception by Namdhari in front of the goalmouth invited the umpire to award penalty corner for the home side. Without any fault, Tahir of Bhopal put the ball into the net. The first half ended with the score 1-1.
After a good start by the hosts, they lost momentum in the following half. Bhopal conceded the second goal just two minutes of the second half. Gurmel was the scorer again.
After lagging behind by one goal, Bhopal intensified the attacks. As the luck favours the brave, Bhopal saw the opportunity in the 42nd minute, once again, through penalty corner. This time Imran made the score level. But the lackluster approach in the last part of the match put the hosts in trouble.
Within a span of 10 minutes Bhopal conceded two goals. The defense of Bhopal failed to support the forward that made them lose by 2-4 goals. Gurmel scored his first hat-trick of the tournament. Nir scored the last goal of the match. The second match played between the teams of Centre of Excellence and Chhattisgarh was a one-sided affair as the former registered a thumping win.
{{/usCountry}}Within a span of 10 minutes Bhopal conceded two goals. The defense of Bhopal failed to support the forward that made them lose by 2-4 goals. Gurmel scored his first hat-trick of the tournament. Nir scored the last goal of the match. The second match played between the teams of Centre of Excellence and Chhattisgarh was a one-sided affair as the former registered a thumping win.
{{/usCountry}}Such was the flurry of goals in the match that the scorer had no time to rest. Excellence team scored 18 goals in the match. Chattisgarh managed to score just one goal. Former Olympin Aslam Sher Khan was the chief of the match.