Dominant Punjab Police defeated a fighting ITBP Jalandhar 7-1 to win the final encounter at the 70th All India Police Hockey Championships which concluded on Saturday here in Bengaluru.
Sans their star striker Ramandeep Singh, who was forced out of the match due to an injury, Punjab Police did well to begin the match in an attacking mode.
They scored goals at regular intervals through Hardeep Singh (14'), Karanbir Singh (17', 39'), Kanwarjeet Singh (20'), captain Dupinderdeep Singh (41') and Jagmeet Singh (53') and Balwinder Singh (55'). A consolation goal was scored by Sunil Kijjur (27') for ITBP Jalandhar.
In the women's final, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) secured a scintillating 3-1 victory against CRPF Delhi in a match that was played on par with each other. While it was SSB who opened the scoreboard through Ranjita Minj (15'), CRPF fought back with a goal by Bharti Thakur (34') to equalize.
While the next few minutes remained tense, SSB won back the lead through goals by Maxima Ekka (44') and Rajni Barla (45'). They held strong in defence all through the last quarter as they held onto the 3-1 lead till the final hooter.
In the men's bronze medal match, Tamil Nadu Police registered a convincing 6-0 win against hosts Karnataka State Police to end their campaign on the podium. After a hard-fought semifinal yesterday against the ITBP Jalandhar, Karnataka Police lacked steam in today's match and failed to play on-par with a younger and fitter Tamil Nadu squad.
Though the hosts did well in the first two quarters with defensive play, they couldn't stop the TN attackers from going on a goal-scoring spree in the third and fourth quarter. For TN, goals were scored by M Vijay (27', 45'), B Arunachalam (34', 47'), M Balamurugan (55', 60').
Meanwhile, Odisha Police took home the bronze medal in the women's category as they beat Maharashtra State Police 6-0. Odisha's captain Rashmita Minz (6', 23', 37', 39') scored four incredible goals to star in the match for her team. Pramita Toppo (38') and Elin Lakra (56') too scored in Odisha Police's fine win.
The closing ceremony was a star-studded affair with Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavraj Bommai doing the honours for all the winners while mega cine star Dr Shivaraj Kumar, Dr Rajneesh Goyal, IAS Additional Chief Secretary, Dr KC Narayana Gowda, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Praveen Sood, DG & IGP (Karnataka Police) were part of the closing ceremony.
( With inputs from ANI )
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