Services won the coveted men's hockey gold in the 31st National Games today, scripting a hard fought 1-0 win over Karnataka to end a fine run that saw them upset defending champions Punjab in the semi-finals.The all-important goal was scored by centre-half Avtar Singh through a penalty stroke, awarded in the 24th minute of the first half. The goal was almost saved by Karnataka's goalkeeper Arun Babu but unfortunately the ball got deflected by his elbow to land inside the post.The teams, conscious of the importance of this game, played a defensive hockey initially, but launched some attacks in the later half though without any success.Services, who played some brilliant hockey in the semi-final against formidable Punjab yesterday, failed to recreate that magic yet again though they dominated for most part of the proceedings. (PTI)
Services win men's final
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