Rourkela: Sundargarh men’s and women’s teams emerged champions in the state-level hockey championships conducted under the ‘Nua-O Yuba Odisha Nabin Odisha’ programme, which concluded here Wednesday evening. The tournament was played at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium here. Teams from Khurda finished runnersup in both the categories.
In the women’s final Sundargarh defeated Khurda 7-1 while the men’s summit clash was a tighter affair with Sundargarh winning 3-2. The women’s final was completely dominated by the Sundargarh girls. Only a consolation goal by Khurda in the middle of the fourth quarter saved them from utter embarrassment. In the men’s final, Sundargarh were the dominant team, but they failed to utilise the chances that came their way. Had they done so, the scoreline would have been similar to that of the women’s final.
In the last quarter Sundargarh had a look at the opposition’s goal on four occasions but failed to convert. Padma Shri and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey was the chief guest on the concluding day. He presented cheques of Rs 2 lakh to the men’s and women’s teams. The runners-up teams got Rs 1 lakh each. In the women’s final captain of the Sundargarh team, Jiban Kisori Toppo got the player of the match award while Khurda goalie was adjudged the same honour for the men’s summit clash.
