CHANDIGARH, March 11:Formidable Maharashtra and strong contenders Border Security Force began their campaign with a bang on the opening day of the 57th All-India Police Hockey Championship being conducted by the Chandigarh Police at here today.
Coaches by Dhanraj Pillay, Maharashtra rained goals against Gujarat by 17-0 after establishing a comfortable 7-0 in a Pool E match at the Sector 18 Hockey Stadium. In a one-sided match Maharashtra scored through Vijay Jatale (5), Vinod Nimbore (4), Anmol Bhosale (3), Vinod Mangude (2), Rakesh Kamble (1), Amit Vesur (1) and Ganesh Gupta (1). Maharashtra earned five penalty corners and Gujarat one. Both teams failed to convert any of the penalty corners.
The highlight of the BSF-Tripura group H fixture was a brilliant hat-trick by Varinderjit Singh who showed good technique to convert penalty corners. He converted penalty corners in the 32nd, 49th, 51st and 59th minutes at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium..
Other BSF scorers were captain Hajrbhajan Singh (1), Mandeep Singh Junior (1), Mandeep Singh Sr. and John Jogo (1) and Manpreet Singh (1).
Mahanand Kindo and Barna Bas Nag (one each) reduced the margin for Tripura.
Central Industrial Security Force were held to a one-all draw by Sashastra Seema Bal in the opening Pool B match and split points in the It was CISF which drew the first blood by scoring a field goal through Mangra Munda in the 28th minute and kept the lead intact till the first half.
On crossing over, SSB went all out to neutralize the lead and they got success in the 46th minute when Kishore Lakra found the object. Thereafter the match was confined to mid field.
CISF were awarded six penalty corners but they failed to convert any one of them. Similarly, SSB earned four penalty corners which they muffed.
Orissa overcame a stiff resistance from Uttar Pradesh by a narrow margin of 3-2 in a Pool C encounter at the Sector 18 Hockey Stadium.. Uttar Pradesh were leading by 2-1 at half time.
Down by two goals, Orissa staged a remarkable rally to snatch a hard-fought victory. Uttar Pradesh were two goals up in 21 minutes. Both goals were scored by Manish Gupta. He opened UP account in the 17th minute by converting their first penalty corner. Maintaining the pressure, UP doubled the margin with Manish scoring a field goal.
Orissa took time to settle down. Three minute before lemon time, Orissa scored their first goal through Jenric Tete who converted a penalty corner. Orissa dominated the second half. Tete converted another penalty corner to restore parity in the 43rd minute. Just two minutes before the hooter, Bijay Ekka snatched the match-winner with a field goal.
Tomorrow’s fixtures: Sector 42 Stadium: JK vs Tamil Nadu (8 a.m), Maharashtra vs ITBP (12.00), Jharkhand vs SSB (2.00 p.m), AP vs Bihar (4 p.m.).
Sector 18 Hockey Stadium: CRPF cs RPF (2 p.m.) and Tripura vs Assam (4 p.m).