Pune, Oct 18 (IANS) Puneri Paltan kicked off their home leg on a disappointing note as they narrowly lost to Gujarat Fortunegiants 28-32 here on Thursday.
It was an evenly contested affair till the half-time as both the teams were tied on same points however, Gujarat showed some extraordinary style of play to in the second half to register their first win in the ongoing sixth season.
The visitors started on a rousing note, taking a 4-0 lead before Pune’s star raider Nitin Tomar came into act as his fine raids and super raids made the issue 7-5.
Nitin’s successful raids further extended Pune’s lead to 10-8 before some superb tackles by Sachin and K. Prapanjan bought Gujarat back into the contest as the scoreline read 14-11 in the visitor’s favour.
Pune’s super tackles in the final moments of the first half made the issue tied at 15-15.
The scenario remained the same in the first few minutes of second half as the succesful raids from both the sides made the score 20-20.
Sachin’s brilliant raid in the 34th minute saw Pune suffering an all-out as Gujarat stretched the lead to 25-20.
Ajay Kumar continued to attack the home side as his raids and some successful tackles in the dying minutes of the game took Gujarat to 30 points while the home side struggled hard for a comeback but could only make to 28 points.
With this win, Gujarat has jumped a place to be at the fifth spot in zone A while Pune remains at the second place.
–IANS
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