Hockey India shortlists 28 players for Coaching Camp
The team returns to camp after playing a five-match Test series in Australia.
Punjab has staked its claim for two gold medals as the state’s boys and girls hockey teams have remained unbeaten halfway through the league competition in the Khelo India School Games in New Delhi.
Punjab boys who are in Pool A, have beaten Haryana 4-2 and thrashed Rajasthan 10-1 and will take on Odisha in their last league assignment on Sunday.
Punjab Girls who are in Pool B, have beaten Chandigarh 3-1 and Odisha 7-2 and will face Delhi in the last league fixture.
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Two other teams who can spoil Punjab’s party are Haryana Girls and Chandigarh Boy’s teams who are also unbeaten so far in their section.
As the format makes possible for all the teams to qualify for the knock out stage-quarter finals- irrespective of their showing in the league, four other teams who still can hope for a podium finish are Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
Two teams Rajasthan (boys) and Chhattisgarh (girls) have not lived up to the expectations. In fact they have become a cannon fodder for their rivals.
Rajasthan has conceded 24 goals while scoring three in two matches and Chhattisgarh provided shooting practice to their rivals having absorbed 19 goals in two fixture without scoring a single goal.
In 16 matches (eight each in boys and girls section) it has rained goal with whopping 108 being scored (59 boys, 49 girls).
Odisha has scored the most in boys section so far, 15 ,while conceding five, while Punjab is next with 13 -2.
In girls section Jharkhand despite one win and a loss have fired 14 goals and conceded 4, Punjab is next with 10-3 goal tally.
Among the boys Punjab’s Surdarshan Singh, Sarbjot, Chandigarh’s Hashim, Odisha’s Sudeep Chirmkao, Rimanshu ( Haryana) Sushil (Delhi) K.M.Yashwanth (Karnataka) and Chetan Suthar have impressed so far.
Among the girls , Punjab’s Simarjeet Kaur, Amardeep, Chandigarh”s Akshita Yadav , Haryana’s Anu, Jharkhand’s Ropani Kumari , Rajni Kerketa, Odisha’s Aten Topno and Uttar Pradesh’s Mumtaz Khan and Simran Singh have displayed their potential till now.
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