Jharkhand beat Maharashtra to enter men's hockey final
Jharkhand entered the men's hockey final of the 34th National Games, scraping past Maharashtra 2-1 in extra time after their semi-final match, which was stopped at the 55th minute on Wednesday, resumed from the same position on Thursday.
Jharkhand entered the men's hockey final of the 34th National Games, scraping past Maharashtra 2-1 in extra time after their semi-final match, which was stopped at the 55th minute on Wednesday, resumed from the same position here on Thursday.
Resuming the match on Thursday, which ended abruptly yesterday after it was referred to the technical committee because of a dispute over a penalty stroke, Vikas Pillay made no mistake in converting the penalty and gave Maharashtra a 1-0 lead.
But Maharashtra's joy was shortlived as Jharkhand forward Roshan scored a superb goal to restore the parity five minutes later to take the match into extra time.
It was India player Prabodh Tirkey who gave home fans reasons to cheer when he scored the golden goal from a penalty corner to take Jharkhand into the final.
Jharkhand will now face Punjab, who beat Services 3-2 in the other last four match, in the title clash on Friday.
On Wednesday, the match was stopped abruptly following an unruly crowd behavior after the referee awarded a penalty stroke to Maharashtra and Jharkhand players protested against the decision.
The match was later referred to the technical committee, who rejected the protest and ordered both the teams to finish off the game from the same situation on Thursday.