Himachal Pradesh and Assam enter the finals of the 4th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2014 (Division B)

• Assam edge past Tamil Nadu 3-1
• Himachal Pradesh defeats Delhi 3-0 in a shoot-0ut

Bhopal, March 18, 2014: Himachal Pradesh surpassed Delhi and Assam edged past Tamil Nadu to enter the finals of the 4th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2014 (Division B) in their respective semi-finals played at Aish Bagh Hockey Stadium in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh today.


In the first semi-final, Assam defeated Tamil Nadu 3-1 to book their berth for the finals of the championship. Tamil Nadu opened its account in the 4th minute through field goal scored by Karuppayee in the 4th minute but Assam’s Seema Bharti’s quick reply in the 6th minute leveled the scores of the match. A penalty corner conversion by Shikha Singh in the 15th minute and a field goal by Pooja Choudhary in the 31st minute helped Assam take the lead 3-1 till the half time. The second half of the game saw a much tougher fight, as Tamil Nadu defended well and restricted Assam to score any more goals but at the same time failed to pocket any points in their favour as well and eventually lost the fight to enter the finals.

The second semi-final match saw a tough clash between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh edged past Delhi 3-0 via penalty shoot-out. Delhi had been dominating the match till the end of the first half of the game as they bagged a significant 2-1 lead over Himachal Pradesh. Delhi opened its account in the 14th minute when Pooja made no mistake in converting the penalty corner. In the 32nd minute, Himachal Pradesh leveled the score through penalty corner converted by Pooja Devi. But three minutes later, Delhi scored its second goal through Pooja. The second half of the match saw Himachal Pradesh putting pressure on the opponents and in the 44th minute Rachana Jamalta successfully converted a penalty corner for her team. The two teams had ended 2-2 after a regulation time.

For Himachal Pradesh Sonia Rani, Sonia and Rachana Jamalta scored in the shoot-outs and their goalkeeper Kanika Devi’s potent interception restricted Delhi from scoring in the shoot-outs.

Today’s Result

• Semi-Final 1- Assam 3 Seema Bharti (6 min), Shikha Singh (15 min) and Pooja Choudhary (31 min) Vs. Hockey Unit Of Tamil Nadu 1 Karuppayee (4 min).
• Semi-Final 2- Himachal Pradesh 2 Pooja Devi (32 min) and Rachana Jamalta (44 min) Vs. Delhi 2 Pooja (14 and 35 min). – SHOOT-OUT  – Himachal Pradesh 3-0 Delhi

Tomorrow’s schedule

• 1530 HRS (HARD LINE) HOCKEY UNIT OF TAMIL NADU V/s HOCKEY DELHI
• 1730 HRS (FINAL) HOCKEY ASSAM V/s HOCKEY HIMACHAL PRADESH

(Both the matches are going to be held at the Aish Bagh Hockey Stadium in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh)