To take on Hockey Haryana in the Final

A spirited Hockey Maharashtra team played out of their skin to defeat defending Champions Hockey Madhya Pradesh 2-1 (HT 0-1) in a Semi-Final match of the ongoing 14th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship that was played at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium Pimpri, Pune on Friday night.

The hosts trailed by a solitary Hritika Singh (28’) goal that scored via a penalty corner towards the end of the second quarter till midway of the fourth quarter. The fact that they missed a penalty corner early in the third quarter and their rivals too created many attacking moves which resulted in four short corners too added to the pressure for Hockey Maharashtra in the remaining time.  

It was astute defensive work led by their reliable custodian Susmita Patil that managed to negate the same provided hope to the Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke led Maharashtra outfit. The same was reflected in their approach in the final quarter which saw them earn as many of three penalty corners and soon managed to equalize with one after a successful conversion from Akansha Singh (52’). With just over four minutes left on the clock, a brilliant field goal by Kajal Sadashiv Atpadkar (56’) after a through pass by Rutuja Dadaso Pisal put the hosts in the lead for the first time, which they held on till the final hooter in the tightly contested match.

Hockey Maharashtra who made amends for their loss to the same rivals in title clash of the previous edition of the National Championships that was held in 2023 at, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, will next take on the formidable Hockey Haryana. The Savita Puniya lead side having as many as dozen international players in their fold earlier outplayed a gallant Hockey Jharkhand 4-0 (HT 1-0) in the other Semi-Final.

The fast paced match saw the defense of both teams hold forts successfully, despite Haryana earning a penalty corner. After a goalless first quarter Hockey Haryana increased the tempo of the match in the second quarter and kept control of the ball for most of it. Indian Team midfielder Navneet Kaur (27’) successful penalty corner conversion late in the second quarter resulted in 1-0 lead in favour of Hockey Haryana by the end of the half time.

Although Nikki Pradhan’s led Jharkhand retained much of the possession of the ball at the beginning of the third quarter, it was the fluent Haryana side that kept the pressure and eventually doubled the lead with a field goal from Indian Team midfielder Jyoti (40’). Sharmila Devi (44’), who plays as a forward for the Indian Team, later scored yet another field goal to ensure a healthy 3-0 lead before the end of the third quarter. With just about ten seconds left in the quarter, Jharkhand missed an opportunity to reduce the lead after a missed penalty corner attempt.

 Hockey Jharkhand managed to find a few circle entries in the final quarter but a compact Hockey Haryana defense prevented any damage. The latter was awarded another penalty corner and Indian Team forward Deepika (57’) converted it to take the lead to four and confirm a place in the Final.