Semifinals: 11th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021, Simdega, Jharkhand

~ Hosts Hockey Jharkhand will take on Hockey Haryana in the final on Friday ~

Simdega, 28 October 2021: Hockey Haryana and hosts Hockey Jharkhand will lock horns in the final match at the 11th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021 as they won their respective semifinal encounters played on Thursday. In the third and fourth placing match, Hockey Chandigarh will take on Hockey Maharashtra.

In the first semifinal, Hockey Haryana defeated Hockey Chandigarh in a close match where both teams lived up to the billing with the match going down to the wire. While it was Hockey Haryana who got off the blocks on an attacking note with Neelam scoring the first goal from a penalty corner in the 2nd minute, Preeti extended their lead to 2-0 in the 21st minute.

The second quarter, however, belonged to Hockey Chandigarh who scored two back-to-back goals to equalise the score. Kavita scored in the 26th minute and Arti Kashyap struck a splendid field goal in the 30th minute to level the scores before going into the half-time break. Both teams returned from the break to defend their score line with all their heart as the third quarter remained goalless. While both teams did well in the last quarter to keep their score intact, a small defensive error by Hockey Chandigarh gave away a crucial penalty corner in the 54th minute which was brilliantly converted by Neelam who ensured Hockey Haryana were through to the final.

In the second semifinal, hosts Hockey Jharkhand rode on the home advantage as they registered a fantastic 3-1 win against Hockey Maharashtra. The hosts came up with a good show in all departments to ensure they saw their team in the final.

Getting off to a good start with a 14th minute goal by Ropni Kumari, Hockey Jharkhand did not allow any setbacks to upset their momentum. Though Hockey Maharashtra scored in the 17th minute through Kajal Sadashiv Atpadkar and levelled the score to 1-1, the hosts built on their attack to score a goal each in the third and the fourth quarter to seal the match. It was Deepika Soreng who struck via penalty corner in the 42nd minute while Kajal Bara too scored off a penalty corner in the 50th minute to take their team into the title clash against Hockey Haryana.

Please see below Medal matches line-up: –

All the matches are being streamed live on watch.hockey and the Jharkhand State Government official you tube channel.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSXD7-uvfR7bizvymaxR-9Q