trophy goes to PNB

P.S. Chauhan

The Punjab National Bank, Delhi, lifted the 79th Shradhanand Memorial All India Hockey Tournament championship held in the playground of the Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar.

The tournament, which has been held since 1930 in the memory of Swami Shradhanand, the founder of the university, is one of the oldest hockey tournaments in the country. Kartar Singh, the secretary general of the organizing committee of the tournament said that 18 teams from all over the country participated in the six-day event which was inaugurated by the D.I.G., Alok Sharma.In the first semi-final the Corps of Signals, Jallandhar defeated the Haryana Police by scoring a golden goal in the extra time which was given to the teams after they had failed to score any goal in the fixed time. In another semifinal the PNB Delhi beat up the BEG by 7-1. In the final match the Corps of Signals, Jalandhar clashed with the PNB Delhi. The first half of the match was goalless. However, in the second half, PNB did an excellent performance and scored two goals. Both the goals on behalf of the team were scored by Daman. The winner of the last year, the B.E.G. Roorkee was trounced by the PNB Delhi in one of the semi finals yesterday.

The state minister for tourism and development, Madan Kaushik awarded championship to the winner team. The minister declared that the state government would set up State Hockey Academy in the university to provide high class training and facilities to the hockey players.