Bihar, Uttarakhand, SSB, HP make bright starts in hock natls

Bihar, Uttarakhand, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Himachal Pradesh made winning starts to their campaign in the fourth Hockey India Senior Men National Championship at Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium here today.
Setting their goals clear from the very beginning, Bihar, Uttarakhand, SSB and Himachal Pradesh registered wins in their respective matches today that marked the commencement of games in Pool A and B.
In the first match of the day played between Bihar and Gujarat, the former went all out from the very beginning.
However, it was Gujarat who drew the first blood through Krushsingh Zala in the ninth minute.

But Bihar came back strongly and scored through Md Reyazuddin (11th), Naveenminz (14th) and Mangra Bhengra (21st) to take a sizeable 3-1 lead in the first half.
Gujarat played a defensive game in the second half but could not stop Bihar's Naveenminz from scoring another goal at 40th minute to wrap up the game.

In another match, Uttarakhand thrashed Goa 4-0.
Prakash Mehra scored two goals for Uttarakhand at 23rd and 49th minutes. Captain Maheshwar Negi (28th) and Kailash Jalal (56th) were the other goal-getters for the winners.
In the third match of the day, SSB had to toil hard to beat Rajasthan 2-1.

Rajasthan took the lead in the first half through Purshotam Bagdi's penalty corner conversion in the 22nd minute.