Mysuru: Hockey Odisha were crowned ‘Junior National Hockey Champions 2015′  after winning the 5th edition of the Championship  jointly organised by Hockey Karnataka and Hockey Mysore at the Chamundi Vihar AstroTurf.

Hockey Odisha beat  Hockey Punjab in the final encounter, Sumit Toppo’s astounding three goals and the flaws of Punjab at crucial junctures helped Odisha  win the championship by 4 goals to 3 here on Wednesday.

The win came after some tense moments for Hockey Odisha. in the first half of the game. Harjeet opened the scoring for Hockey Punjab in the 19th minute. However, Sumit scoring his first goal for Hockey Odisha, equalised the scores. Two minutes before the first half, Simranjit converting a tricky pass into a goal elevated Punjab on the score board. Going a goal behind opponents, Odisha had many surprises in the second half. Keeping control over the ball, Odisha team started their play in the second half,  playing man to man passes. Hockey Punjab who was ahead of Odisha had to pay a huge price for illegally defending inside the scoring box. Prakash converting the penalty corner in the 41st minute again equalised the score for Odisha. Sticking to the man to man pass strategy,  Odisha continued to keep control over the ball. Failing to learn from the previous mistake, Punjab again illegally tackled inside the scoring D, and paid the penalty, literally. This time it was Sumit who converted  the penalty corner to give Odisha the lead for the first time in the game. Yet again scoring a goal in the 61st minute Sumit enhanced the goal margin for Odisha, In the final minutes of the game, giving their best, Hockey Punjab attempted to score the goals. Ajit of the Punjab scored the third goal at 68th minute which did not help the team in the end.
However, it was Odisha defenders who snatched the show in the second half by restricting the opponents from breaking and entering their cordon.

In the match held for third and fourth place, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Himachal by 3-0 goals to secure third place.

Several awards were handed out on the conclusion of the final. These include the following:

Category                    Player                                 Team

Best goal keeper        Pankaj Kumar Rajak           Steel Plant Sports Board

Best full back              Harmanpreet Singh             hockey Punjab

Best half back             Nitesh Kiro                            hockey Jharkhand

 
Best forward                 Simranjit Singh                      hockey Punjab