Jalandhar, Sep 19 (IANS): After an exciting eleven days of action-packed performance in the 14th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2024, Hockey Punjab clinched the title after defeating Uttar Pradesh Hockey 3-3 (4-3 SO) in the final at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium.

Hockey Punjab defeated Uttar Pradesh Hockey in a closely contested final on Thursday. Sukhwinder Singh (5’), Jarman Singh (33’) and Jobanpreet Singh (39’) scored for Hockey Punjab. Ajeet Yadav (31’) Suraj Pal (48’) and Akash Pal (54’) scored one goal each for Uttar Pradesh Hockey.

In the shootout, Akash Pal, Nitish Bhardwaj and Ajeet Yadav scored for Uttar Pradesh Hockey whereas Hockey Punjab proved to be the better one on the day of the final as Japnit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Jarman Singh and Lovenoor Singh scored for Hockey Punjab to lift the trophy.

In the other match, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Karnataka 5-0 to steal the third place on the podium. Amit Khasa (30’), Navraj Singh (50’), Nitin (54’), Manish Kumar (55’) and Sahil Ruhal (59’) scored one goal each for Hockey Haryana and took the game away from Hockey Karnataka.