With the help of Mahip Adhikari's brilliant hat-trick, Delhi defeated Gujarat 4-0 to register their second consecutive win in Group-1 of the 76th National Senior Men's Football Championship being played for the Hero Santosh Trophy.
In the match played at the Ambedkar Stadium, Mahip completed the hat-trick by scoring goals in the 59th, 81st and 84th minutes. Meanwhile, in other matches of the day played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Karnataka beat new comers Ladakh 3-2, while Uttarakhand defeated Tripura 1-0.
Delhi's performance continued to improved match-by-match, which played at Ambedkar Stadium. On Tuesday, Substitute attacking midfielder Mahip Adhikari, who was benched for two consecutive matches, scored a brilliant hat-trick, when he got his chance. In the 30th minute, Ajay Singh Rawat opened Delhi's account by scoring from Jaideep's pass. Delhi was leading 1-0 till half time.
Mahip entering the field as a substitute just after the interval proved to be a boon for the hosts. Mahip scored all his three goals on the passes of Jaideep, Raghav Chadha and Ajay Singh Rawat respectively. The hosts dominated for most of the time. Captain Neeraj Bhandari, Karandeep, Gaurav Rawat and Sahil, the players of Delhi's defence, did not give any chance to Gujarat's forwards by defending strongly.
With this victory, Delhi remained in second place in Group-1 with seven points of two wins and one draw from three matches. On the other hand, Karnataka registered their third consecutive win today and remain at the top with nine points from three wins in three matches. After tasting the victory today, Uttarakhand has moved to the third position in the table. Uttarakhand have four points from three matches with one win, one draw and one loss. At the same time, Gujarat is in fourth place with three points from one win and two defeats in three matches. Tripura and Ladakh are placed fifth and sixth respectively with one point each from three matches.
In the first match of the day played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Karnataka had to struggle a bit to win over Ladakh. Karnataka beat Ladakh 3-2. Abhishek Shankar Powar (27th), Jacob John Kattukaren (54th), Robin Yadav (80th minute) scored in Karnataka's victory.
Ladakh played the better side in the first half and defied expectations to take an early lead through Mohammad Ilyas' goal in the ninth minute. So, he kept Karnataka at 1-1 till the interval. But in the second half, Karnataka launched a flurry of attacks and were leading 3-1 at one stage. Stanzin Gillik of Ladakh made the difference 3-2 before the referee's whistle.
In the third match of the day, Uttarakhand beat Tripura 1-0. This is the first victory of Uttarakhand. Substitute Sarthak Singh scored the only goal of the match in the 56th minute.
'My name is the guarantee of security in the country', PM Modi says in Karnataka
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that his name is the guarantee of security in the country, adding it was his primary duty to protect the citizens of the nation.
9 held for gang rape of minors in Meghalaya
Nine persons were arrested by the police in connection with the rape of minor girls in the South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, officials said on Sunday.
Indian Coast Guard apprehends Pakistani boat with huge consignment of narcotics
In a major success, the Indian Coast Guard, following an overnight aerial-maritime joint operation with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on Sunday apprehended a Pakistan boat in the Arabian Sea, west of Gujarat's Porbandar, and seized a large haul of narcotics.
Decision to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya should have been taken on next day of Independence, PM Modi says in K'taka
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the decision to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya should have been taken the very next day after the country achieved Independence in 1947.
Rahul slams BJD-BJP in Odisha rally, says both in collusion to benefit few corporates
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, stepping up the party’s campaign in Odisha on Sunday lashed out at the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government and the opposition BJP while accusing them of having ‘married’ each other for personal gains and befooling the public.
PM Modi has already scored a century in first two phases of LS polls: Amit Shah
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already scored a century of seats in the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls.
Govt extends shutdown of schools in Tripura till May 1, heat wave alert extends
In view of the intense heat wave, the Tripura government has announced an extension of shutdown of all government aided schools and privately managed schools till May 1 next.
Despite having a woman CM, females in West Bengal most unsafe: JP Nadda
BJP national president J. P. Nadda on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, saying that despite having a woman chief minister, females in the state are most unsafe.