After clinching rousing wins in their respective semi-finals, Railway Sports Promotion Board and Punjab & Sind Bank will fight it out in the finals of the 7th Senior National Hockey Championship 2017 (Men) 'A' Division here on Sunday.
In the first semi-final, Railway Sports Promotion Board put in an emphatic comeback performance to win 5-1 against Hockey Chandigarh.
In a first quarter devoid of open chances, Gaurav Tokhi gave Hockey Chandigarh the lead by converting a penalty stroke in the 8th minute. They defended their lead strongly and went into halftime in the lead. In the third and fourth quarter though, Railway Sports Promotion Board came back strongly with goals by Nilakanta Sharma (42', 49') and Ajit Kumar Pandey (48') pushing them into the lead.
Forced into going out and finding a goal to get back in the game, Hockey Chandigarh had to open up their play in the final quarter and Railway Sports Promotion Board exploited the spaces at the back to put them under even more pressure, goals from Yuvraj Walmiki (54') and Karanpal Singh (59') sealing a superb comeback victory which took them into the final.
In the second semi-final, Punjab and Sind Bank edged out Hockey Punjab 1-0 after a largely solid performance in a match devoid of goals but not high speed action.
The two teams were among the most-attacking of the tournament and came out charging at each other. Despite the similarity in styles and the speed of play a goal proved elusive. After three quarters where both teams were locked in a stalemate the game looked destined for a shootout. However, in the 57th minute, Karamjit Singh scored the decisive blow sounding the Board to give Punjab & Sind Bank the victory.
Hockey Chandigarh will now face Hockey Punjab for the third and fourth place classification match later today.
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