Jalandhar: Punjab edged out Uttar Pradesh 4-3 in a thrilling shootout to claim the 14th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship title here on Thursday.
In a tightly-contested final, Sukhwinder Singh (5′), Jarman Singh (33′), and Jobanpreet Singh (39′) found the back of the net for Punjab, while Ajeet Yadav (31′), Suraj Pal (48′), and Akash Pal (54′) scored for Uttar Pradesh, leaving the teams locked at 3-3 in regulation time.
During the shootout, Uttar Pradesh’s Akash Pal, Nitish Bhardwaj, and Ajeet Yadav converted their attempts, but Punjab prevailed as Japnit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Jarman Singh and Lovenoor Singh all scored to secure the title.
In the third-place match, Haryana outclassed Karnataka with a commanding 5-0 victory. Amit Khasa (30′), Navraj Singh (50′), Nitin (54′), Manish Kumar (55′) and Sahil Ruhal (59′) scored to give Haryana third place on the podium.
