The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Haryana to clash with Jharkhand

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Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Sport - Hockey

Haryana to clash with Jharkhand

Principal Correspondent

Haryana’s Ritu Rani struck three goals and had a hand in two more
It will be a repeat of the 2006 final in which Haryana won

GWALIOR: Ritu Rani defines the eagerness of the Haryana team. Though the striker is impatient in her moves, she has the zeal to be at vantage points on most occasions and is enthusiastic enough to be part of the junior team despite having represented the senior team at the Madrid World Cup.

Ritu struck three goals and had a hand in two more as Haryana defeated Punjab 7-0 to cruise into the final of the 37th women’s junior National hockey championship at the Railway stadium here on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Haryana will take on Jharkhand in a repeat of the 2006 final when the former defeated the 2005 champion in Jabalpur.

Jharkhand produced yet another copybook performance to beat Orissa 4-1 in the first semifinal.

Exciting game

The flourishing hockey academies in the interiors of Haryana were on show as every member played exciting hockey.

Seven-time champion Punjab was nowhere near Haryana in terms of strategy, ball control or tackles. That Haryana failed to get into double digits was the only saving grace for Punjab.

The combination of Ritu and Rani Devi took control of the situation soon after Monika opened the floodgates in the fifth minute.

Monika ran in from the left to stifle the Punjab defence and scored with a flourish.

In a move masterminded by Rani and Ramandeep Kaur, Ritu placed herself in a scoring position.

Receiving a pass from Rani, Ritu flicked the ball into the post for a 2-0 lead in the sixth minute.

Rani strikes

At no point in the game did Punjab threaten to score, as Haryana had the ball in the opposition half for most part of the match.

Rani scored her first goal in the 13th minute and came up with a good effort at the stroke of half-time to leave Punjab in disarray.

On change of ends, the Haryana strikers kept finding cracks in the Punjab defence.

Four minutes into the second half, Ritu scored off Rani’s cross from the centre before captain Joydeep Kaur converted a penalty corner in the 53rd minute to make it 6-0.

Poor conversion rate

Haryana managed to score just one goal from the 10 penalty corners it earned.

Ritu scored the seventh goal in the 57th minute when Rani beat three defenders before crossing the ball to her. Ritu dodged past Punjab goalkeeper Gursharan Kaur to score.

Anima scores twice

Jharkhand had no problems in beating former champion Orissa. Anima Soreng scored twice through field efforts after Pinki Lakra had opened the scoring in the sixth minute.

Jharkhand, however, wasted seven penalty corners.

Orissa’s only consolation was the 60th minute conversion by skipper Sulochana Kishan.

The results (semifinals):

Haryana 7 (Monika fifth, Ritu Rani sixth, 39th, 57th, Rani Devi 35th, 39th, Joydeep Kaur 53rd) bt Punjab 0.

Jharkhand 4 (Pinki Lakra sixth, Anima Soreng eighth, 46th, Arti Baraik 55th) bt Orissa 1 (Sulochana Kishan 60th).

Corrections and clarifications

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