Haryana emerged as champions of the 2025 Hockey India Junior Men National Championship as they defeated Odisha 3-2 in Jalandhar, Punjab.
Punjab won their 3rd/4th Place match against Uttar Pradesh 4-3 in shootout after a 3-3 draw over the four quarters to clinch the bronze medal.
In the final, both sides couldn’t be separated initially as they exchanged possession but failed to find an opening goal. In the second quarter, Odisha showcased brilliant skill by converting two successive penalty corners courtesy of Deepak Pradhan (17′) and Pratap Toppo (19′) to take a comfortable lead in the final.
The scores remained the same in the third quarter, but Haryana turned the game on its head in the final quarter of the match.
Chirag (50′) scored his side’s first goal through a penalty corner and in the very next minute, his teammate Nitin (51′, 60′) scored a field goal to level the game.
Moments later in the final minute of the match, Nitin skillfully dribbled past two defenders and fired a shot from distance to score the winning goal for Haryana and claim the championship.
In the 3rd/4th Place Match, Uttar Pradesh scored early in the first quarter as Satyam Pandey (8′) converted a penalty corner to open the scoring.
Punjab replied with two goals in the second quarter by Lovenoor Singh (21′) and Japnit Singh (28′, 59′) to take the lead.
The third quarter saw the tide shift to Uttar Pradesh as Ujjwal Pal (48′) and Fahad Khan (57′) scored to take the lead again.
With seconds left on the clock. In the last minute, Punjab’s Japnit Singh scored a penalty stroke to push the game into a shootout. Charanjeet Singh, Lovenoor Singh, Om Rajnesh Saini and Sunny were the goalscorers for Punjab in the shootout.
