Hyderabad, Sep 4 (IANS) Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Central Secretariat, Sports Authority of India, Food Corporation of India and Railway Sports Promotion Board emerged winners in a mix of one-sided contests and closely fought battles in the 6th Hockey India Senior Men Inter-Department National Championship 2026, which got underway on Friday at Hyderabad, on Friday.
Eight fixtures were played across Pools A, B, C and D in closely fought battles on the opening day of the competition.
Sports Authority of India (SAI) put up the day’s most emphatic performance, thrashing Defence Accounts Sports Control Board 20-1 in a Pool B fixture that saw the floodgates open from the first quarter itself. Nitesh Sharma was the standout performer with a five-goal haul, while Akash Pal struck a hat-trick.
Captain Vikas and Triloki Venvanshi both notched braces, with Sachin Dungdung, Sunit Lakra, Sunil, Vishal Pandey, Manish Kumar, Deepak Singh Fartyal and Shivam Patel also finding the net as SAI announced their title intentions in style. Rahul replied for Defence Accounts.
In the other Pool B tie, Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) got their campaign off to a winning start, edging past Central Reserve Police Force 4-1. Thrishul Ganapathi H struck twice, with skipper Parmod and Tiras K also among the scorers. Lovejeet Singh was on target for CRPF.
Pool A saw Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) register a comfortable 7-1 win over Sashastra Seema Bal, with Gurjot Singh and Kumar Varun both scoring braces and Devindar Walmiki (C) also getting among the goals. Om Rajnesh Saini rounded off the scoring for PSPB, while Praveen Chauhan pulled one back for SSB. In the day’s other Pool A encounter, Central Secretariat kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over I.T.B.P. Central Hockey Team, with Bharath Mahalingappa Kurtakoti and Paulus Lakra sharing the goals between them.
In Pool C, Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) came out on top in a high-scoring affair, defeating Steel Plant Sports Board 6-3. Kanagaraj Selvaraj was among the goals along with Ritendra Pratap Singh, Yogesh Singh, Atish Dodrai, Akshay Dubey and Amrit Tirkey, as Services held their nerve after Steel Plant, through Lelsan Minz, Amit and Amrit Horo, kept the contest alive till the closing stages.
All India Police Sports Control Board also picked up three points, beating Union Bank of India 3-1, with Dharamvir Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (C) and Varinder Singh among the scorers for the winners and Zameer Mohammad replying for Union Bank.
Pool D produced two comprehensive wins to round off the opening day. Food Corporation of India (FCI) blanked Tamil Nadu Police 7-0, with Ritik Kujur among the multiple scorers as FCI dominated from start to finish.
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSCB) got the better of Canara Bank 5-1, with Amandeep Lakra, Pardeep Singh and Lovepreet Singh among the scorers for RSPB, while KR Gaurav Ganapathy struck for Canara Bank.
–IANS
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