Hosts Haryana eves face Chandigarh in the final

Sonepat, October 11, 2012: Hosts Haryana scored a comprehensive 5-3 win over last years runners-up Jharkhand to enter the final of 2nd Hockey India Junior Women National Championship, here on Thursday.

Leading 3-1 at half-time, Haryana scored through Navneet Kaur (8th, 10th), Manjit Kaur (11th, 46th) and Malkit Kaur (43rd) while Punam M. Tete (24th) and Sabnam Lakra (45th, 57th) were on target for Jharkhand.

Haryana looked the better drilled outfit with a lot of character and composure while Jharkhand committed far too many errors that put them on the defensive for much of the match.

Haryana controlled and dictated the pace from the start to enjoy the upper hand. There was variety in their moves with the forwards never starved of passes from the midfield.

Up front, the Haryana forwards showcased their skill and pace to repeatedly wrong foot the defenders while at the back, they always had enough men to repel Jharkhand attacks.

Centre Forward Navneet Kaur again made important contribution in Haryana’s victory scoring 2 goals against Jharkhand. Navneet Kaur has scored 20 goals in the tournament till now.

“We played to a definite plan today and that was to be selective in going on the attacks. That helped us to have sufficient men in the defence”.

“We also scored goals at regular intervals and that helped us to keep MPHA under pressure. Yes, our centre forward Navneet Kaur did a wonderful job throughout the game as that helped us to enter finals. We will show better game in the final against Chandigarh said Haryana coach Pritam Siwach”.

In the first semifinal played earlier Chandigarh defeated defending champions Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy via penalty shootout to book their place for the final.

Chandigarh goalkeeper Inderpreet Kaur became the star with three saves to lead his team to final of the tournament after the match ended in a 3-3 draw after the regulation time and 15-minute extra time.

MPHA scored its opening goal in the 6th minute through Reena Katariya and two minutes later Shivani Singh made no mistake in converting penalty corner for MPHA. Chandigarh tried to reduce the margin in the 14th minute through Pooja Rani. Chandigarh leveled in the 26th minute with the penalty corner conversion by Navpreet Kaur.

Chandigarh took the lead again in the 45th minute through penalty corner converted by Jyoti Manral but forward Reena Katariya scored an equalizer for MPHA in the 57th minute.

Result:

Semifinal 1- Chandigarh 3 (Pooja Rani 14; Navpreet Kaur 26; Jyoti Manral 45 )

                      MPHA 3 (Reena Katariya 6,57; Shivani Singh 8)

Semifinal 2- Haryana 5 (Navneet Kaur 8, 10; Manjit Kaur 11, 46; Malkit Kaur 43)

                     Jharkhand 3 (Punam M Tete 24; Sabnam Lakra 45, 57).

HI Press release