Indian Women’s Hockey Team Captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia- Saviour for the winners

Hockey Maharashtra went down fighting to Hockey Haryana in sudden death 0-3 after a thrilling 1-1 draw in the final round of the 14th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship that was played at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium Pimpri, Pune on Saturday night. Trailing 0-1 at the stroke of half time, the hosts drew parity in the fag end of the regulation time, before the visitors buoyed by the presence of a dozen international Indian players including the experience custodian won in shoot out. Navneet Kaur, Usha and Sonika scored in the shootout for the winners past the substitute custodian Susmita Patil, while their Captain Savita Punia who is also the Indian skipper, made three successive saves en-route to glory. In a late afternoon clash, Hockey Jharkhand defeated defending champions Hockey Madhya Pradesh 2-0 to ensure they would finish the tournament at third place for the third year in a row. Sangita Kumari (3’) broke the deadlock as early as the third minute, while Ropni Kumar (59’) successfully converted a penalty corner to double the lead in the final quarter to seal the victory for Hockey Jharkhand. Hockey Madhya Pradesh on the other hand were guilty of squandering the various opportunities that came their way.

Earlier Hockey Haryana applied pressure on the hosts right off the blocks, keeping the ball in Hockey Maharashtra’s half for a major part of the first quarter. While Hockey Haryana made a few circle penetrations, no goals were scored as the first quarter ended with the score 0-0.
The second quarter started in similar fashion and Hockey Haryana was awarded a penalty stroke a little over five minutes into the quarter. Rajani Etimarpu, the goalkeeper for the hosts, kept the ball out, much to the delight of the fans at the stadium. Their happiness was short-lived as the leading goal-scorer of the tournament, Deepika (26’) converted a penalty corner to put Hockey Haryana in the lead.
An opportunity presented itself to Hockey Haryana to double their lead, but a gritty Hockey Maharashtra defence kept the ball from finding the back of the net. Both teams came close to scoring but neither succeeded as the third quarter ended with Hockey Haryana leading 1-0.
With a little over six minutes left in the game, the  Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke led Hockey Maharashtra outfit scored the equalizer with a penalty corner conversion from Akshata Abaso Dhekale (54’), bringing even more excitement into the game. Hockey Haryana was awarded a penalty corner with under two minutes left, but failed to score as the game went into a penalty shoot-out with the score reading 1-1.

In the end it was the experienced visitors that that prevailed over the never-say-die attitude and the tenacity of the hosts who time and again regrouped to defend their citadel during the course of the regulation time, before Captain of Hockey Haryana and Indian Women’s Hockey Team Captain and goalkeeper, Savita Punia made three spectacular saves in the shootout to deny the host an the national crown. Interesting the two finalists over the years have been involved in close encounters over the years, including the last edition in 2013 that was held at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, where Hockey Maharashtra prevailed over their rivals in the semi-finals also in shootout 2-1 after being tied 1-1 in normal time, while Hockey Haryana had to sweat it out to defeat Hockey Maharashtra 3-2 in the semi-final in 2020.

Hockey Haryana and Indian Women’s Hockey Team Captain and Goalkeeper, Savita Punia, post the tightly contested final match that resulted in her state team’s success said, “I think we played well but maybe our goal conversion could have been better. Full credit must go to Maharashtra which played an excellent game of hockey.” It is a good feeling to represent and give back to my state. We are all very proud of the result. Coming into the tournament with so many Indian Women’s Hockey Team players, I think there was a little bit of pressure on us. However, as a squad, we are all familiar with each other and have a good bond and that really helped us deliver the results. However I felt that maybe our goal conversion could have been better. Full credit must go to Maharashtra which played an excellent game of hockey.”

Reflecting on the challenges in the shoot out she further added, “Definitely there was pressure, especially when you are playing against the home team, but I focused on my process and got the outcome we wanted.”

Savita also lauded the 14th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship. “The level of competition was quite high this year. I think every year we are witnessing the quality of the tournament get better. Beyond this, I really wanted to express my appreciation as I think the tournament was very well organised this year. As players we had everything we needed and the logistics were well-planned”, she said.