Sports Hostel, NCR enter hockey final

LUCKNOW: Lucknow Sports Hostel and North Central Railway stormed into the final of the 2nd Senior State Women’s hockey championship, notching up contrasting wins in the semi-finals, at the Padahmsheer Mohd Shahid stadium here on Sunday.

Sports Hostel defeated North Eastern Railway by a solitary goal, whereas NCR defeated Shashtra Seema Bal 3-1 in other semi-finals. It was a ding-dong battle between Hostel and the NER as the two teams continued to raid each other’s citadel, but to no avail in the first half.

Repeated efforts to make a dent in defence wall of NER paid rich dividends to Sports Hostel in the second half, when Rakhi Rathore converted a penalty corner into goal in the 47th minute.

Though it alarmed NER eves, who began pressing hard, but inability convert the opportunities into goal by the vanguards proved costly and the score-line remain unchanged till the end.

Unlike winners NCR, it was SSB which started in a fascinating manner, creating opportunities even in the first five minutes of play. But NCR were up for some tactical attacks and it proved right when in the sixth minute Deeksha shot the first goal for the side, converting a penalty corner (1-0).

Minutes before the half-time Reena extended the lead to 2-0 again converting a PC (2-0). Sarita rounded off the tally in the 55th minute, striking a field goal (3-0). Suman Saru struck the consolation goal for SSB in the 60th minute.

Earlier in the day, Lucknow Hostel defeated Varanasi 4-0 in their last league match. A hattrick by Kushboo remained the highlight of the match. In other match of the day, SSB beat hosts Shanti Foundation 3-0.

ATHLETICS TEAM

Lucknow District Athletics Association on Sunday announced its team for the InterDistrict Junior National Athletics Championship, scheduled to be held from November 24 to 26 at Vishakhapattnam. The team include, Praveen Kumar Pal, Vishal Chahal, Rajveer Gupta, Pushpa Yadav, Kalyanika, Akshara Mishra, Saba Qurashi, Shailey Singh, Payal Chauhan, Maria Parveen, Vivek Chand, Niyaz and Rishi Mishra. Coach: Haleemuddin; Manager: Akshay Yadav.

OPEN CHESS

Pawan Batham won the open category title at the Avijai chess tournament, managing 4.5 points out of five rounds. Devi Dayal Singh and Kuldeep Shankar finished second and third, respectively. In Amateur category, Ridhima Nigam and Atharva Mishra stood first and second, respectively.

STATE VOLLEYBALL

Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) lifted the glittering trophy of the Sanjay Singh Memorial State volleyball tournament, defeating Diesel Locomotiva Works (DLW), Varanasi 25-17, 25-19, 25-21 in a thrilling final, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ stadium on Sunday.