Bruising victory for Namdhari

Madras Engineer Group’s Kiran Kunjappa gave a scare to everyone at the hockey stadium on Saturday as he suffered an injury during his side’s 3-6 loss to Namdhari in the Ozonegroup-KSHA National Hockey League Championship here.

Attempting to score during a goal-mouth melee in the 40th minute, Kunjappa was struck on his face as Hardeep Singh attempted to thwart him with a raised stick.

The tackle, albeit unintentional, left Kunjappa bleeding on the pitch. He was immediately stretchered off and rushed to St Philomena’s Hospital.

The Sappers striker, however, was discharged after receiving a couple of stitches. Hardeep received a straight red card for dangerous play.

Meanwhile, Deepak Thakur and Gunashekar scored a brace each as former champions IOCL crushed Sports Authority of India 5-2 in the day’s opening match.
Gunashekar opened the scoring for IOCL in the 10th minute before Sunil doubled the lead in the very next minute.

Thakur’s double strikes (36th, 39th) soon after resumption and Gunashekar’s second goal in the 41st minute then set IOCL on course to a thumping win.

Results: IOCL: 5 (Gunashekar 10th, 41st, Sunil 11th, Deepak Thakur 36th, 39th) bt SAI: 2 (Nikkin Thimmaiah 44th, 64th); Namdhari: 6 (Dilbag Singh 3rd, Hardeep Singh 6th, Gurmukh Singh 22nd, Gurinder Singh 35th, OG 36th, Karnjit Singh 62nd) bt MEG: 3 (Fatheram Munda 15th, Robin HM 29th, 57th).