Hockey Punjab were crowned champions of the 8th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2018 (A Division), on Sunday after they beat Petroleum Sports Promotion Board in the final match, at the Padma Shri Mohammad Shahid Synthetic Hockey Stadium here.
In the well-fought encounter, Hockey Punjab came back from a goal down to defeat Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 2-1. The latter who had taken an early lead in the match as Gurjinder Singh converted a Penalty Corner in the 3rd minute to settle the early nerves for his team, but Hockey Punjab made a comeback in the last seven minutes of the match, scoring two goals in the 53rd and 60th minutes of the match which were both scored by Sarvanjit Singh.
It turned out to be a difficult defeat to take for Petroleum Sports Promotion Board as they conceded the second goal in the last minute of the match.
On the other hand, Hockey Punjab, who had won the Bronze medal in last year's edition, were delighted to have finished as the Champions of this year's competition.
In the Bronze medal match, Defending Champions Railway Sports Promotion Board came out victorious against Air India Sports Promotion Board as the match was decided through a Penalty Shootout which finished 5-3 in the former's favour.
Railway Sports Promotion Board had taken an early lead in the match in only the fifth minute as Sayyad Niyaz Rahim scored a field goal to put his team in the lead. However, Air India Sports Promotion Board showed character to fight back and scored the equaliser in the 17th minute through Shivender Singh.
Both the teams tried to utilize their attacking opportunities but neither could be efficient in front of goal which meant that the match finished tied at 1-1 after regulation time. In the Penalty Shootout, Railway Sports Promotion Board kept their nerve as they scored from all five of their shots while Air India Sports Promotion Board missed their second shot which saw them lose 3-5.
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