Northern outfits Lucknow and Delhi started their campaign in the All India under-18 Talent Hunt Hockey tournament with a bang, scoring 3-1 verdicts in pool matches in Mumbai on Thursday.
Lucknow upset the bearings of hosts Mumbai by pumping in three field goals. They led 1-0 at half-time in pool B match.
Delhi outclassed Chennai after recovering from an early goal in pool A.
In another pool B match, Rourkela slammed three goals against Manipur within the first 19 minutes of play and then conceded a goal in the 26th to also win by a 3-1 margin.
Lucknow took an early lead in the 9th minute when forward Sarwar Ali found the mark against the home team.
Mumbai equalised in the 49th minute through Rahabar Khan, also a field goal, but Lucknow then applied extra pressure and scored two goals in the space of three minutes through captain Vivek (61st) and Rajender Yadav (63rd) to sew up victory.
Chennai's S Kousikan scored a field goal in the 13th minute to put his side 1-0 up against Delhi, who hit back to restore parity two minutes before half time through a field goal by Prashant Tirkey.
Crossing over Delhi's Vikramjit Singh scored a brace in the space of four minutes the first by convering a penalty stroke in the 59th minute and then slotting in off their 7th penalty-corner award in the 63rd -- to help his side win.
S Vanmali (10th, penalty corner), Mohd Hayat (13th, penalty stroke) and Sanbdeep Kullu (19th, penalty corner) put Rourkela up to a commanding 3-0 lead before Manipur's Joychand Singh reduced the margin in the 26th via a field goal.
The second half was goalless.
