Chennai: Hockey Unit of Tamilnadu (HUTN) defeated Central Secretarial 4-3 to win the 9th Hockey India Senior National Championship (Division B) at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Sunday.
For HUTN, the victory is a special one as apart from winning the trophy, the team has also been promoted to the first division after toiling in the B Division for five long years. Speaking about the win, HUTN coach Charles Dixon said “It is the beginning of the new era for Tamilnadu hockey. The win is the result of three months of hard work during which the boys prepared well.”
Tamilnadu dominated the game in the first half and by 12th minute, the hosts earned a penaly corner and D Muthuselvan duly converted it to get the 1-0 lead in the first quarter. In the second quarter by 19th minute, TN earned another Penalty corner but D Muthuselvan missed a scoring opportunity. Within a minute, CS earned a penalty corner and Rawat duly converted it, equalling the scores.
Vinod V Rayer, who scored 12 goals in the tournament before the finals added one more to his kitty in the second half. For CS it was once again Rawat to equalise, scoring off a Penalty corner in the 34th minute. HUTN’s P Dhamu then scored a field goal from inside the box after slotting in a beatuful pass from Senthil Nayagam to take the lead for the third time. But, CS didn’t give up and equalised in the 41st minute through G Gnanavel. At the end of the third quarter, the scoreline read 3-3.
In the last quarter, during the 46th minute TN earned a penalty stroke but couldnt score a goal off it. In the 55th minute once again TN gained a penalty stroke and this time V Vinodhan duly converted it to give Hockey Unit of Tamilnadu,a victory.
Coach added that during the match when the fortunes were oscillating he remained confident that the boys would win it for the state. “Now since we have qualified for the first division, we have to focus on fitness, penalty corner and ball position. We will be looking to improve in all this areas,” he signed off.