Punjab held their nerves to outwit defending champions Haryana in a penalty shootout to clinch the title in the Senior Men's National Hockey Championship in Chennai on Tuesday. (More Hockey News)
Punjab and Haryana ended the regulation time tied at 2-2 before the former emerged a 9-8 winner in the shootout.
Punjab began the match on a strong note, scoring the opening goal in the 13th minute through Harjeet Singh. However, Haryana's Sanjay (25th) scored from a penalty corner to draw level.
Punjab skipper and India player Harmanpreet Singh (42nd) scored from a powerful drag flick to put his team in the lead. But Haryana's Rajant (50th) found the target to restore the parity.
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During the shootout, Sanjay, Deepak, and Abhishek found the back of the net for Haryana.
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Harmanpreet, Simranjeet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh scored for Punjab as the contest entered into sudden death. In the seventh penalty shootout, Simranjeet beat the keeper, securing Punjab's hard-fought victory.
TN Finish Third
Earlier, Tamil Nadu overwhelmed Karnataka 5-3 in penalty shootout to take the bronze medal. In the 3rd/4th-place playoff, the score was tied at 3-3 at the end of regulation time.
BP Somanna (4th) scored the encounter's first goal for TN from a penalty corner.
But Karnataka clawed their way back into the contest with captain Sheshe Gowda (12th), Harish Mutagar (34th) and India forward Mohammed Raheel Mouseen (38th) scoring a goal each.
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Tamil Nadu drew level through Sundarapandi (40th) and India forward Karthi Selvam (52nd), forcing the match to a shootout.
TN skipper J Joshua Benedict Wesely, Kanagaraj Selvaraj, Dhanush M, Sundarapandi and H Shyam Kumar were the scorers in the shootout.
Goalkeeper S Senthamizh Arasu stood tall for his side making a couple of good saves.
