Jharkhand made a winning start as they vanquished Manipur 4-2 to pick up full points in the 64th senior National Men's Hockey Championship for the Rangaswamy Cup here Friday.
In the only match of the day, the first-half proved barren, but the action-packed second session saw Jharkhand, twice in arrears after conceding two own goals, scrambling home with two late strikes.
After the break, Manipur received a lucky own goal in the 37th minute as the ball was deflected to the boards by one of the Jharkhand defenders.
However, Jharkhand equalised in the 39th minute through a field goal by Deepak Soreng. Both the teams had equal exchanges and had a few threatening shots at the goal, but the rival goalkeepers were up to the task.
Manipur again took a lead in the 56th minute through another own goal, this time the ball shot from outside the circle touched by the Jharkhand goalkeeper.
Jharkhand restored parity in the very next minute again through an own goal as the ball was deflected into the own goal by one of the Manipur team defenders.
In the last 10 minutes, Jharkhand took complete control and dominated the proceedings to score twice in the 65th and 69th minutes through Rabindra Kujur and Suman Tirkey, both finding the mark with shots from top of the circle.
Saturday's fixtures: Punjab vs Uttar Pradesh (12.30 pm); Manipur vs Karnataka (2.30 pm); Jharkhand vs Mumbai (4.30 pm).
