Tamil Nadu and Central Secretariat fought their way into the final of the ninth Hockey India Senior National Hockey Championship 2019 B Division in Chennai, Tamil Nadu after overcoming a stiff challenge in the semi-finals on Saturday.
In the first semi-final, Tamil Nadu beat Sports Authority of India 3-2 in a tense shootout after a 3-3 draw in regulation time. Goalkeeper M Arun Prasadh was impressive with his saves for Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu while S Manikandan scored twice in the shootout and Senthil R Nayagam scored once to help their team win.
During regulation time, Sports Authority of India made a strong start with a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute through Boby Singh Dhami’s goal. V Sanmugam and V Vinodhan’s goals helped Tamil Nadu take control of the proceedings. V Vinod Rayer had scored in the 40th minute that gave Tamil Nadu a 3-2 lead but Sports Authority of India made a comeback to score in the 25th and 41st minutes through Mohit Kumar and Rahul Kumar that resulted in a draw.
In the second semi-final, Bengaluru Hockey Association suffered a 3-4 loss to Central Secretariat after holding the team 3-3 in regulation time. Pardeep Mor, Dharambir Yadav, Govind Singh Rawat and Imran Khan scored in the penalty shootout to help Central Secretariat win while Govind Singh Rawat had scored twice in regulation time and Dharambir Yadav scored a goal.
For Bengaluru, Veerannagouda’s goals in the 10th and 11th minute had given his team a flying start while C Abhilash Stalin scored in the 50th minute to gain a 3-2 lead, but Central Secretariat scored late on to force a decider.