Defending champions Prayagraj start with loss
LUCKNOW: Defending champions Prayagraj got off to shaky start in their campaign in the 3rd Senior State Women’s Hockey Championship as they lost to Meerut 0-4 in their opening league match, at the Padma Shir Mohd Shahid Stadium here on Thursday.
In a pool D encounter, Prayagraj girls, sporting T-shirts in the old name ‘Allahabad’ were dominated by Meerut women’s, who never allowed their rivals to free their arms.
Despite repeated attacks from both flanks, Prayagraj women’s found the rival defenders a tough nut to crack.
On the contrary, Meerut girls made positive attempts to score. An energetic Kajal struck a brace, netting a goal each in 36th and 45th minute, respectively, whereas Mansi and Anjali netted a goal each.
Other three matches of the day witnessed contrasting results. Varanasi crushed Rae Bareli 8-1, Gorakhpur outplayed Ballia 8-0, whereas Sports Authority of India notched up a solitary goal win against Ghaziabad.
THRILLING WIN
Chauhan Sporting scored a thrilling four-run win against Parth Cricket Academy to make it to the semi-finals of the 2nd Phoolmati OP saxena Memorial Tournament, at the Microlit Gymkhana here on Thursday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Chauhan Sporting could score 152 in 29.5 overs.
Karunesh and Suhail scored 23 runs each. For PCA, Manish Yadav took five wickets, whereas Rajat had three wickets.
It didn’t look a big target for PCA in reply, but they kept losing wickets on regular intervals.
Pankaj Singh (54) and Yash Kumar (39) played well, but couldn’t guide the side home.
BRIEF SCORES Chuhan Sporting 152 in
29.5 overs (Karunesh 23, Suhail 23, Manish Yadav 5/26, Rajat Madheshiya 3/34) beat
PCA 148 in 40 overs (Pankaj Singh 54, Yash Kumar Upadhya 39, M Zain 4/19, Gaurav Pandey 3/26).
OPEN CHESS
The 24th Sunday Open Chess Tournament, including events for different age groups, will be held on March 10 here under the auspices of the Lucknow District Chase Sports Association.