Raipur, Oct 24 (IANS) Despite an unimpressive start in the first quarter, Surender Singh’s Nyayadhani Knights registered their second victory in the Chhattisgarh Hockey League 2026, as they got the better of Sankardhani Strikers 5-3 on Saturday.
For the Strikers, it has become amply clear that PC conversion isn’t their strongest suit. They missed two PC chances at the start of the battle itself, robbing them of a chance to take a substantial early lead. Though their first goal came through the stick of Om Kumar Yadav, who deflected a ball from Jeetu Hemla to go up 1-0, their inability to convert the PCs hurt them badly.
Nyayadhani Knights struck back in the second with a field goal from Sukhved Nirmalkar. The second goal came soon, with Shadab Ahmad Khan scoring when Strikers’ keeper Aditya Kumar Netam had a bad fall. A second made way for the third, under a minute later, when Chirag converted a PC. This 1-3 scoreline, despite Strikers dominating the proceedings for the major portion of the first half.
Nonetheless, they got lucky in the third. They missed their PC again, but were awarded a stroke that Ashish Tani Purti converted. However, Knights brought back their lead to two goals once again, with Chirag scoring on a PC; once again signalling that Sanskardhani shouldn’t have missed their PC chances.
Towards the end of the match, Ashish Tani emerged as Sankardhani’s lone warrior in a way, when he did manage to convert a PC. The one-sided match ended with Sonu scoring a late goal for the Knights.
For their efforts in the match, Ashish won the striker of the match award, while Chirag received the player of the match award.
Chakradhar Champions move a step closer to semis berth after 4-3 win over Rajdhani Royals.
Rajdhani Royals suffered a second straight defeat in the Chhattisgarh Hockey League on Saturday as Chakradhar Champions took the match 4-3. With this win, Champions moved a step closer to the semi-final berth, with two victories in as many matches.
Parampreet Singh was a certain star of the match for Chakradhar, who managed to score twice through PCs, while Raushan emerged as the star for Rajdhani, who struck once. RR will now have to play out of their skins and win their remaining matches to be in contention for making it to the semis.
–IANS
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