The Hindu : Hockey: Jharkhand thrashes AP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - National Games

Hockey: Jharkhand thrashes AP

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD DEC. 17. Jharkhand took the more authentic route, like Haryana from its pool which drubbed Punjab 7-0 earlier, by outplaying host Andhra Pradesh 4-2 to move into the knock-out phase from Pool A in the women's hockey competition at Begumpet Police Stadium here today.

For the home team, it was the third straight defeat and it could well reflect the low the team has hit in this edition despite big talk about intensive training and even having an `import' Subhadhra Pradhan. Today's match once again demonstrated that the host had a lot of soul-searching to do. It was a fairly decent start, as Andhra Pradesh shot into lead in the very first minute when Subhadhra converted a penalty-corner. But Jharkhand fought back within eight minutes to level the score through a field goal from captain Masira.

That was just what the doctored had ordered for the youthful outfit. The forwardline of Masira, Adline, Amrita and Annarita gave a harrowing time to the Andhra defence. By any stretch of imagination, the home team didn't give an impression of putting up a fight, leave alone winning.

Consequently, Jharkhand struck three more goals in the first-half itself to lead 4-1 at the break. Masira converted another penalty-corner and two field goals from Annarita and Amrita sealed the host's fate.

Today's defeat completed a whitewash for the home team, contrary to the pre-Games hype raised about the preparations by the coaches and the officials.

Haryana recorded its third straight win with a resounding 7-0 win over Punjab to make royal entry into the semifinal from Pool `A'. Two goals each by striker Balwinder Kaur and winger Simarjeet were the highlights of the impressive win. International Mamata Kharub, Jasjeet and Sarvjeet completed the tally with a goal each.

In the last match of the day, Chandigarh recorded a solitary goal win over Delhi with Pankaj Choudhary netting the match-winner to help her team top the Pool `B' winning all the three matches.

The semifinal line-up for Wednesday's afternoon session is: Haryana vs Maharashtra and Chandigarh vs Jharkhand.

The results: Pool A: Haryana bt Punjab 7-0; Jharkhand bt AP 4-2.

Pool B: Maharashtra bt Orissa 2-1; Chandigarh bt Delhi 1-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport