Mysore, March 20 (IANS): Carving their way ahead, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh joined Haryana and Jharkhand in the semifinals of the Girls National Hockey Championship (Division A) at the Chamundi Vihar Hockey Ground here Thursday.
While Odisha will take on Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand will clash against each other in the semifinals Saturday.
In Pool B, Madhya Pradesh registered their third consecutive win beating Bhopal 4-0 to qualify for the last four. Rakhi Prajapati damaged Bhopal’s confidence (9th) by successfully piercing in a field goal. Madhya Pradesh increased the lead to 3-0 by halftime via captain Priyanka Wankhede (20th) and Suman Devi T.H. (21st).
The second half saw a better fight from Bhopal but Preeti Dubey sealed the match for Madhya Pradesh by sneaking in the fourth goal a minute before the hooter.
In Pool D, Odisha had a comfortable 4-0 win over Mumbai to secure a semifinal berth. The first goal came through Odisha’s Elima Minz (26th) followed by Sarojini Ekka’s field goal (34th) which helped Odisha lead 2-0 by the break.
Odisha’s extended the advantage in the second half as Domnica Kujur and Sarojini penetrated the goal once each in the 45th and 63rd minutes.
Earlier in the day, in an inconsequential match, Punjab delivered a flawless performance to beat Bihar 8-0 in Pool D. Punjab pushed Bihar on their backfoot as they sliced in seven goals in the first half, starting from the second minute.
Captain Rajbir Kaur banked in three goals in the first half. Ruchi Batta struck the first blow and Punjab immediately followed it by another from Sandeep Kaur (fourth minute). They managed to spurt up the lead to 7-0 till half time.
Bihar managed a decent comeback in the second half where they allowed only one goal by Rajwinder (41st) but failed to score a goal.
Results:
Pool D: Punjab 8 beat Bihar 0; Odisha 4 beat Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd 0
Pool B: Madhya Pradesh 4 beat Bhopal 0
