Pradhan Somanna, Affan Yousuf and Joga Singh scored three goals each as Air India thumped Chhattisgarh 15-0 in a Pool B league match of the 3rd Hockey India senior men’s national championship at the Major Dhyan Chand Polygrass Hockey Stadium at Pimpri in Pune on Thursday.
This was Air India’s second win in as many games. Sameer Dad, Birendra Lakra (two), V.S. Vinaya, Cheeyanna Bopaiah and Arjun Halappa were the other goal-scorers.
In Pool H, Andaman & Nicobar upset Haryana 4-2 to register their second consecutive win. Bijju Yirkal, Kusha, Chandan and Birsu scored a goal each for the winners, while Jitender Saroha struck twice for Haryana.
In a match played at the Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex, Namdhari XI notched up their second win defeating Hockey Bhopal 4-3 in Pool F. Namdhari XI scored through Sher Singh, Harpreet Singh, Dilbag Singh and Gurpreet Singh, while Mayank James scored a hat-trick for Bhopal.
Later, Chandigarh registered an easy 9-0 win over Assam in their Pool H league match, with Gagandeep Singh scoring four goals.