Jharkhand triumphs over Madhya Pradesh 1-0 to win sub-junior women hockey nationals

Jharkhand triumphs over Madhya Pradesh 1-0 to win sub-junior women hockey nationals

Jharkhand recorded a 1-0 win over Madhya Pradesh in the final of the Hockey India Sub-junior national hockey championship for women at RRC Ground here on Friday.

The match-winner came through Leoni Hemrom in the 15th minute of the first half.

For the record, Jharkhand lost to Haryana in last year’s final.

In the 60 minutes of play, the defenders of both sides held the upper hand. There were several raids, but the attackers were unable to breach the rival citadel. Jharkhand took the lead after 15 minutes of struggle as Leoni Hemrom sounded the board.

Madhya Pradesh teenagers, who scored heavily right through the tournament, seemed to have lost their scoring touch. They were completely overshadowed by the Jharkhand defenders, who nullified every attack launched by their rivals.

In the third-place play-off earlier in the day, Priyanka Minz scored a hat-trick to help Odisha score a 4-3 win over Mizoram.

The Odisha girls were all over the Mizoram territory in the first two-quarters of the game. Anjana Xaxa began the scoring as early as the fourth minute of the game, and thereafter, Priyanka stole the show, striking in the ninth minute and then getting two more three minutes later to put Odisha right on top with an impressive 4-0 lead.

Despite being 0-4 down, Mizoram fought back hard in the next two quarters. Their perseverance bore fruit as Manglawmsang struck in the 28th minute of the game. Then, Vanlalrinhlui got a brace in the 36th and 52nd minutes of the game as the Odisha citadel appeared shaken.

However, the Odisha defenders held on grimly in the last eight minutes of the game to retain their third place.

Final: Jharkhand 1 (Leoni Hemrom) bt Madhya Pradesh 0.

3rd place: Odisha 4 (Priyanka Minz, Anjana Xaxa) bt Mizoram 3 (Vanlalrinhlui 2, Manglawmsang).