Hosts to face Punjab in quarters
Hosts Karnataka will face Punjab in the quarter- finals of the 3rd Hockey India 5a- side women’s senior national championship in Bengaluru.
Other quarter- final lineups have also been decided with Pool A toppers Haryana set to face Uttar Pradesh, Odisha to battle Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu set to challenge Pool B toppers Maharashtra.
On Thursday, in the first Pool A match, Haryana continue their perfect record in the competition, defeating Odisha 5- 2 for their third consecutive win. However, it was Odisha who took the lead in the match through Ajmina Kujur in the second minute, but Haryana made a great comeback to score four goals through Amandeep Kaur ( 5th), Sarita ( 9th), Pooja ( 10th) and Sonika ( 14th).
Odisha scored a second through Mariana Kujur in the 16th minute but Haryana wrapped up the victory with Manpreet Kaur’s goal in the 18th.
In the other Pool A match, Punjab defeated Tamil Nadu 7- 3 to register their first win of the competition. Tamil Nadu had started the match on the front- foot as they took a 3- 1 lead after the opening six minutes.
But six goals in the next fourteen minutes from Punjab saw the latter register a convincing 7- 3 win where the goals for them were scored by skipper Reena Rani ( 8th, 10th, 18th), Rajwinder Kaur ( 13th, 20th), Pooja Rani ( 3rd) and Narinder Kaur ( 17th). Tamil Nadu’s three goals were scored by R. Nivetha ( 2nd, 6th) and E. Ponmathi ( 5th).
In Pool B, Maharashtra secured the first place as they played out an entertaining 4- 4 draw against hosts Karnataka which saw both teams finish with five points, the former finishing ahead on goal- difference.
It was a match of two halves as Karnataka dominated the first period by taking a 4- 1 lead.
But Maharashtra scored thrice in the second period for the draw. Goals for Maharashtra were scored by Preeti Dubey ( 12th, 15th, 16th) and H. Lalruatfeli ( 10th) while S. P. Kruthika ( 5th, 9th), M. D. Pooja ( 6th) and skipper Leelavathy M. J. Mallamada ( 7th) scored for Hockey Karnataka. In the other Pool B match, Uttar Pradesh secured their first points of the competition as they drew 1- 1 against Jharkhand.