Punjab Hockey League: Roundglass Academy and SAI Sonipat finish phase 1 on top of the table

Mohali, Sep 9 Roundglass Hockey Academy (RGHA) and Sports Authority of India National Centre of Excellence, Sonipat continued their fine run, finishing Phase I of the second edition of the Punjab Hockey League (U 21) in first and second positions respectively with commanding victories at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium.

RGHA consolidated their top spot with 20 points from seven matches while SAI Sonipat remained in second with 18 points from the same number of matches.

At the end of Phase I, Naval Tata Academy, Jamshedpur remain in third place with 11 points as PIS Surjit Hockey Academy, Jalandhar also maintained its fourth place in the table with 10 points. Namdhari Hockey Academy occupy fifth place with 10 points and SDAT Hockey Academy (7 points), SGPC Hockey Academy (5 points) and Ghumanhera Risers Hockey Academy, New Delhi (3 points) occupy the remaining spots.

Roundglass Hockey Academy completed a convincing 5-1 victory over Ghumahera Risers Hockey Academy, New Delhi, to remain unbeaten in Phase I. Jobanpreet Singh started the scoring for RGHA in the fourth minute of the match but Ghumanhera Risers equalised through Prikshit in the 12th minute. The New Delhi side kept the hosts on bay in the second quarter, but a third quarter burst saw RGHA score four goals with Amandeep Singh converting two penalty corners, a penalty stroke conversion by Japnit Singh and a field goal by Jarman Singh to ensure they came out comfortable winners.

SAI Sonipat also had a convincing 6-0 victory over SGPC Hockey Academy, Amritsar helped by a brace each from Happy Singh and Ankur Ror and goals from Ankush and Mithilesh Yadav to complete a convincing victory and keep challenging for the top spot.

In the first match of the day, SDAT Hockey Academy, Tamil Nadu secured a bonus point after prevailing in the shootout against Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Jamshedpur after both teams were locked 4-4 after regulation time. S. Vishal scored a hat trick for the side from the south but a brace from Ashish Tani Purti and goals from Ganga Topno and Mohit Nayak gave Naval Tata a 4-3 lead. A penalty corner conversion in the 57th minute by S. Krishnan for SDAT send the game into a shootout. In the shootout, SDAT goalkeeper S. Karthikeyan pulled out four saves, including a stroke as Mohit Nayak was the only player to convert for Naval Tata. J. Arun, R. Athiban and S. Vishal converted their penalties for SDAT as they won the bonus point with a 3-2 win in the shootout.

In the final match of the day, PIS Surjit Hockey Academy and Namdhari Hockey Academy played out a 1-1 draw. Namdhari won a bonus point after winning the shootout 3-0.

Phase II of the league will start on September 15 at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar. The semi-finals will be played on September 26 and the finals on September 27 at the same venue.

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