The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Delhi outguns TN

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Delhi outguns TN

Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI: Pritam Rani Siwach blasted four goals as Delhi outgunned Tamil Nadu 12-0 and cruised into the super league of the NTPC 54th Women's National hockey championship at the Shivaji Stadium here on Saturday.

Former internationals Pritam and Manjinder Kaur have made a sea change to the Delhi side, which had been struggling in the recent past. Delhi has never made it to the super league or the quarterfinals, but with two seasoned strikers in the line-up, it finally made the grade.

Neha Singh opened the scoring in the eighth minute, chancing on the lopsided Tamil Nadu defence.

Pritam then set up Sonika and Manjinder before scoring herself. Pritam was remarkable. She struck in the 30th, 35th, 62nd and 65th minutes. One of the goal was a fantastic solo from the left flank beating four defenders on the way.

Also making it to the super league were Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. While Jharkhand was expected to beat Maharashtra and move up, Madhya Pradesh's 2-1 win against Bombay was surprising.

Bombay played defensively after taking the lead in the ninth minute, and that was its undoing. Madhya Pradesh levelled the scores through Harjinder Kaur Kamboj's penalty corner conversion in the 63rd minute before Bahamani Tirkey (66th) struck the winner.

Orissa's 2-3 loss against Uttar Pradesh was yet another upset result, so to say.

After a day's rest, matches will resume on Monday.

The results (league): Pool `A': Jharkhand 8 (Nilima Kispotta 2, Annarita Kerketta, Shanti Kujur, Guddi Kumari, Amrita Minz Punita Minz, Pushpa Pradhan) bt Maharashtra 0. Pool `B': Madhya Pradesh 2 (Harjinder Kaur Kamboj, Bahamani Tirkey) bt Bombay 1 (Poonam Surin). Pool `C': Delhi 12 (Neha Singh 3, Sonika 2, Manjinder Kaur, Pritam Rani Siwach 4 each, Babita, Manju Phalswal) bt Tamil Nadu 0. Pool `D': Uttar Pradesh 3 (Meenakshi, Eti Srivastava 2) bt Orissa 2 (Binita Xess, Ejren Dadel).