Chhattisgarh junior boys hockey team beat Goa 5-1

*Karan Sahu bags Man of the Match

*Junior girls hockey team finishes fourth

Rajnandgaon (Team Newsbuddy): The 15th Hockey India Junior Boys National Championship 2025 is being organized in Jalandhar (Punjab) from 12 to 23 August. Chhattisgarh Hockey Association President Firoz Ansari informed that a total of 30 teams from across the country are participating in this prestigious competition, Chhattisgarh made a great start by defeating Goa 5-1. In its first match, the state team displayed aggressive play. Team captain Mohit Nayak scored two goals, while Hrithik Yadav, Sumit Minj, and Om Yadav scored one goal each.

Karan Sahu was awarded the Player of the Match for his excellent performance in this match played today.

Chhattisgarh Hockey Secretary Manish Srivastava informed that the team for this competition was selected after the training camp held at the International Hockey Stadium in Rajnandgaon. Talented players from various districts of the state participated in this camp, out of which 18 best performing players were selected for the national competition. The selected players include Alfaz Khan, Sumit Minj, Vivek Yadav, Hrithik Yadav, Avinash Ekka, Prince Bhagat, Om Yadav, Karan Kumar Sahu, Anand Suryavanshi, Mohit Nayak, Avi Manikpuri, Vivek Beck, Manas Patel, Chaman Nishad, Ashwin Kujur, Lavi Manikpuri, Robit Ekka, Rahul Kumar and the training team includes head coach Dipesh Choubey, team manager Amitabh Manikpuri and assistant coach Anuraj Srivastava. In the 15th National Junior Girls Competition being held in Kakinada, the girls of Chhattisgarh displayed a brilliant game and secured the fourth position. In the match played today for the third and fourth positions, even though Uttar Pradesh Hockey had to face defeat, the Chhattisgarh team displayed its brilliant game. Uttar Pradesh defeated Chhattisgarh by 2-0 goals. In the match played before this, Chhattisgarh team had entered the quarter finals by defeating Karnataka by 6-1. Hockey team made it to the semi-finals by defeating Madhya Pradesh by 2-1 goals in the shoot-out in the quarter finals. In the thrilling semi-final match, they had to face defeat from Haryana and in the tough match played for the third and fourth positions, they had to be satisfied with the fourth position by losing to Uttar Pradesh by 2-0 goals.

The sports loving public and hockey lovers of the state have expressed happiness over this impressive achievement of the Chhattisgarh team and congratulated the entire team.