Favourites Punjab won the inaugural National Under-17 Hockey Championship for boys, defeating hosts Mumbai 2-1 in the final at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Trailing by a sixth minute goal, scored by Ganendrajit Ranjit, Punjab fought back and equalised through Davinder Kumar in the 18th minute. Ramandeep Singh scored the winner in the 41st minute.
An error by custodian Karan Thakur dashed Mumbai's title hopes. Ramandeep failed to trap cleanly a through pass from Harsahib Singh in the circle and Thakur allowed the ball to enter the goal as he thought the final touch was by one of his teammates.
The match was played at a brisk pace and Mumbai squandered as many as 10 penalty-corners and a few other field chances against the title favourites.
