Junior women academies' hockey: MP side storms into semis

Bhubaneswar, March 23 Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Sports Authority of India (SAI) Academy, and Amritsar's Khalsa Hockey Academy won their respective quarter-final matches on Tuesday to advance to the semi-finals of the 1st Hockey India Junior Women Academy National Championship here.

In the semi-finals, to be played on Thursday, Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre will play with SAI Academy and Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy will clash with Khalsa Hockey Academy of Amritsar.

The third place match and the final will be played on Friday.

In the first quarter-final match on Tuesday, Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre edged past HAR Hockey Academy 2-1 in a closely fought encounter. Nikita Toppo opened the scoring for Odisha team in the first minute. HAR Hockey Academy levelled the scores towards the end of the first quarter through Tannu (15th minute). Kamla Singh then scored the winning goal for her team in the 27th minute to guide the Odisha outfit into the semi-finals.

In the second quarter-final encounter, the Madhya Pradesh academy side overpowered Bhai Behlo Hockey Academy Bhagta 15-0. Captain Akshita Yadav led from the front with four goals (19th, 25th, 44th, 45th) while Hritika Singh (5th, 16th, 32nd), Soniya Kumre (1st, 37th), Yogita Verma (3rd), Priyanka Yadav (6th), Aashrita Thakur (29th), Sakshi Jain (46th), Divya Yadav (48th) and Lovedeep Kaur Gill (52nd) were the other scorers.

In the third quarter-final game, SAI Academy defeated Salute Hockey Academy 6-2 to book their place in the semi-finals. Jyothi Edula (14th, 39th), Anisha Dungdung (23rd), Poonam Mundu (31st), Sanjna Horo (41st) and Bhavani Madugula (54th) were among the goal scorers for SAI Academy. Pooja (7th) and captain Rajbala (57th) got on the score sheet for Salute Hockey Academy.

In the fourth quarter-final match, Amritsar's Khalsa Hockey Academy earned a 4 -1 win over Jai Bharat Hockey Academy, thanks to a hat-trick from Taranpreet Kaur (17th, 40th, 49th) and one goal from Sneha Sabharwal (60th). Muskan Ahlawat (37th) got on the score sheet for Jai Bharat Hockey Academy.

( With inputs from IANS )