Rourkela, June 23 (Agency) Hockey Madhya Pradesh won the 13th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2023 after defeating Hockey Chandigarh in the Final at the iconic Birsa MundaHockey Stadium here. “The aim was to perform well at the National Championship by keeping possession, and look for the counter without committing more than two players. We worked on our formation and receiving under pressure and putting pressure on opponents before we arrived in Rourkela and I feel that helped us a lot. All teams that participated had some really talented players in their squad, and I feel the title was decided based on the performance and luck of each team on the day,” commented Hockey Madhya Pradesh Coach Mangal Vaid.Hockey Madhya Pradesh defeated Hockey Chandigarh by 4-2 in the Final. The goalscorers for Hockey Madhya Pradesh were Shreyas Dhupe (17’, 46’), Mohd Konain Dad (25’), and Ali Ahmad (52’). Meanwhile, Sumit (9′) and Surinder Singh (31′) scored for Hockey Chandigarh.
“The team played very well throughout the Championship, we worked on our set-up and penalty corner before coming to Rourkela and it panned out well for us seeing that we made it so far in the end. All the teams we played against were good, it has been a great learning experience for the boys,” said Hockey Chandigarh Coach Gurminder Singh.Meanwhile, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Association of Odisha 3-1 to finish third in the competition. Shubham (4′), Captain Rohit (28′), and Prikshit Panchal (51′) all scored to put Hockey Haryana in command. Meanwhile, Hockey Association of Odisha’s lone goal came from Akash Soreng (53′). “I had confidence in our team to give a good account of ourselves during the course of the Championships, we practiced penalty corners as a team before arriving and it turned out to be the driving force that has gotten us the Bronze medal. I feel the team has been a little unfortunate butthis can be a great learning experience for the lads, something that can help them later in their career,” said Hockey Haryana Coach Bharat Singh.