State Hockey team qualifies for the main round for National

IMPHAL, September 14: Manipur defeated Arunachal Pradesh by 5-1 in the final match of the 64th Sr National Hockey Championship for North East Zone 2012 at Khuman Lampak Hockey Stadium today.

Members of senior state hockey team pose for a photograph after winning the NE Zone qualifiers.

Manipur qualifies for the main round of the Senior National Hockey Championship, which will be played at Delhi at the year end.

The early fifteen minutes of the first half of today’s match saw great competition between the two teams. But the later part was seen Manipur taking full control of the match.

By the end of the first half, Manipur took the lead by 4-0. Later, in the second half both the teams scored 1-1 goals.

The first half goals were scored by P Adeva in 17th, 21st and 26th minutes making a hattrick and the fourth goal was scored by P Priyokumar in the 29th minute.

The second half goal of Manipur was also scored by P Priyokumar through a penalty stroke in the 66th minute of the match.

The lone goal of Arunachal Pradesh was scored by S Happy in the 62nd minute.

Manipur received two penalty corners, while Arunachal Pradesh received four penalty corners but both the teams did not succeed in converting it into goals.

P Jupiter of Manipur and M David of Arunachal Pradesh were shown green cards in the 54th and 55th minutes by the Umpire.

The closing function of the tournament was attended by MLA DR I Ibohanbi Singh and MLA K Sarat Singh as the chief guest and president respectively.