MPHA first team to enter Semi-finals

Defending Champion Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy defeated Delhi 5-0 to become the first team to enter the semi-finals of 2^nd Hockey India Junior Women National Championship at Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai on Monday.

MPHA who missed three easy scoring chances in the first fifteen minutes of the game, scored their first goal in the 24^th minute when Ramngaihzuali Ralte successfully converted penalty corner.

MPHA who led 1-0 at the half time, started their game with pace in the second half and scored their second goal in the 49^th minute when their drag-flicker Shivani Singh made no mistake in converting penalty corner. One minute later Reena Kataria got a touch to a long hit from the centre- line by Diksha Tiwari for the third MPHA goal.

Shivani Singh scored off another goal for MPHA through a direct pass from Priyanka Chandrawat in the 57^th minute and Ramngaihzuali Ralte scored her second goal in the 62^nd minute. MPHA goalkeeper Swati made some good saves in the second half and denied any scoring opportunity to the opponents.

Delhi missed a couple of scoring opportunities throughout the game.

“I am not satisfied with our performance as we would have done better against Delhi. Our players lacked coordination and missed easy scoring chances. I was expecting my team to score atleast 12 goals.

“We have to improve our coordination among the players before playing semis” said Paramjeet Singh, Coach of Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy.

Results

Quarter-final 1: MPHA 5 (Ramngaihzuali Ralte 24, 62; Shivani Singh 49, 57; Reena Kataria 50) beat Delhi 0.