Nehru State Sub-Junior Boys Hockey tournaments : Young Pioneers' School, UNACCO School claim U-15 and U-17 titles
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 25 2022: Young Pioneers' School Imphal East and UNACCO School, Imphal West were crowned U-15 and U-17 champions in the 50th U-17 and 39th U-15 Boys Nehru State Level Hockey Tournaments organised by the Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports.

In the U-15 boys final, Young Pioneers' School beat UNACCO School 2-1 via penalty shoot out after 3-3 draw in regulation time of the keenly contested title clash today at Khuman Lampak Hockey Stadium.

The Imphal East team got off to a bright start and enjoyed a 2-0 lead till halfway with W Derish (11', 30') scoring a goal each in the first and second quarters but conceded three goals in the latter period to Imphal West and the game was decided via penalty shoot-out.

UNACCO's L Max Singh helped reduce the gap to half by converting a penalty corner in the 31 st minute before his compatriot Ksh Borish closed out the gap with a field goal in the 44th minute.

After settling the game 2-2 till the third quarter, Swami Dayal of the Imphal East side converted a penalty comer in the 47th minute to break the deadlock but Sorokhaibam Sanson of UNACCO School equalised yet again in the 54th minute to extend the game to penalty shoot-out.

In the shoot-out, W Derish and N Ronin netted for the Imphal East school against one scored by Pebam Jackson Singh for UNACCO.

UNACCO School however made up for the U-15 final loss by clinching the U-17 boys title with a 5-3 beating of Thaimei Guiganpou English School, Bishnupur later in the day.

The Bishnupur team started strongly and were 2-0 ahead after 7 minutes courtesy goals from L Pritam (5') and W Rohit (7') but UNACCO School fought back and levelled the margin with skipper Suresh Sharma converting two penalty corners back to back in the 12th and 13th minutes.

UNACCO School overturned the lead thanks to a 26th minute goal by Nelson Y before Sh Borish scored in the 35th minute to put UNACCO School in the driver's seat.

Sh Borish netted yet again in the 43rd minute to make it 5-2 but W Rohit pulled back another goal for the Bishnupur team in the 46th minute.

With time elapsing fast, UNACCO defenders put up a good fight to parry away late Bishnupur team's charges and wrapped up the game 5-3 to fetch the tourney title.

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