THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Kolkata, March 20: After four days of hectic activity at the SAI hockey ground, Canara Bank from Bengaluru emerged as the champions for the first time in the All India Public Sector Hockey Tournament 2025, organized by Coal India Ltd, here on Thursday.
Canara Bank defeated Union Bank of India from Mumbai via the penalty shoot-out 4-2 after both the combatants drew the 60-minute game 3-3. The winning aggregate is 7-5 in favour of the Bengaluru outfit.
PR Sreejesh hands over trophy to winners
The proud winners received the glittering trophy from former India Hockey captain and double Olympic bronze medallist P.R. Sreejesh and Vinay Ranjan, Director (P & IR) Coal India Limited, who is also the President of All India Public Sector Sports Control Board.
Ramesh Sachdeva, Consultant (AIPSSCB), Victor Anthony, Selector (AIPSSCB), Executive Director, General Managers, and HODs from CIL Headquarters including Amitabh Kumar Singh, HOD (Welfare) and other dignitaries were present to grace the occasion.
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Current under-21 National team head coach, Sreejesh watched the match from half-time. While addressing the participants, P R Sreejesh congratulated the management of CIL for promoting hockey among the PSUs and advised the company to promote young talents in the field of sports so that they get more opportunities to play.
In his address, Dr. Vinay Ranjan said that the company is committed to promoting Sports activities in the line of Khelo India. “CIL and its subsidiaries have been organizing various sports events to promote sports in coalfields areas. Recently the company has organized a Marathon for professional runners in Jharkhand and Odisha,” he added.
Glimpses from the final
UBI went into attack from the word go and pressured Canara Bank players who backtracked and defended stoutly. This was the story of the final as the faster and incisive attacking style of UBI dominated the game throughout.
There were moments for Canara Bank to fight with the back to the wall. The experienced side soaked in the pressure and mounted timely counterattacks that proved very successful.
Venkatesh Kenche was the livewire in the UBI attack and expectedly he put the team ahead with a sixth-minute field goal. Just before the first quarter hooter, Canara Bank equalised through Yathish Kumar’s field goal to go out during the break 1-1.
The tale of the second quarter was the same with UBI scoring their second goal in the 22nd minute through Venkatesh Kenche. The success was short-lived as G.N. Pruthviraj produced a gem of a field goal two minutes later. The score was 2-2 at half-time.
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After a goalless third quarter where UBI continued to dominate the game, the final quarter produced two goals. UBI again went ahead through Venkatesh in the 49th minute to complete a well-deserved hat trick. Canara Bank bounced back to equalise through the only penalty corner conversion in the 57th minute through Pavan D.R. As the match ended 3-3 it went into a penalty shootout.
For Canara Bank K.P. Dinesh, Yathish Kumar, G.N. Pruthviraj and Likhith B.M. successfully converted while for UBI Darshil and Rahul C.J. scored. Govind Nag and Tejas Chavan were thwarted by the Canara Bank custodian Jagdeep Dayal, who was adjudged the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Top performers of the tournament
Jagdeep Dayal was named the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament for his outstanding performance. Other individual awards included:
- Best Defender – Surender Kumar (FCI)
- Best Midfielder – Rahul Shinde (UBI)
- Best Forward – Krishna Mohan (SAIL)
FCI secures 3rd place
Earlier for the third and fourth places, last year’s runners-up Food Corporation of India (FCI) turned the table on defending champions SAIL by the odd goal in seven.
