The Hindu : Sport / Football : Manipur to clash with Orissa in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 23, 2004

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Sport - Football

Manipur to clash with Orissa in final

By Our Correspondent

DINDIGUL, DEC. 22. The final of the second junior National (girls' under-17) football tournament will be a repeat of last year's summit clash with Manipur taking on Orissa on Friday at Dindigul district stadium.

On Wednesday, Manipur and Orissa won their semifinal matches against West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively in contrasting styles. While Manipur coasted to a 10-1 victory over West Bengal. Orissa, after conceding an early goal, had to sweat hard before beating Tamil Nadu 3-1, the third goal coming in the last seconds of injury time, against the run of play, when Tamil Nadu was in full cry for the equaliser.

Tamil Nadu went into the lead as Kokila found the net off a fine cross from Rani Prasanna. Stung by the reverse, Orissa piled on the pressure and it scored in the 13th minute, when Sasmita Malik placed the ball into a far corner of the net, receiving a fine pass from Jhilli Munda.

Orissa managed to score through Sangita Patra in the 55th minute. And Orissa added another in the last seconds of injury time when Sasmita Malik, receiving a pass from Jhilli Munda at mid-field, went on a solo cut past the goalkeeper Frangither Eliza and scored.

In the other match, Manipur took the lead in the sixth minute with a goal by Bembem Devi. West Bengal, which put up some fight in the early stages scored in the 12th minute though Sapna Guria. But Manipur started to dominate the proceedings and the goals were scored at will from the 14th minute. Bala Devi accounted for five goals, Roma Devi netted a brace and Lalvarmoihmar and Nairobi Devi scored one each. Thursday is a rest day.

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