Railways, Punjab in women’s hockey semis

Defending champions Railways entered the semifinals of the Senior Women’s Hockey Championship with a 7-0 rout of UP in Sonepat on Thursday. The winners went ahead in the seventh minute and thereafter kept scoring at regular intervals. Jasjeet Kaur Handa (3), Saba Anjum (2) and Deepika Thakur (2) were the goal-getters.

Railways next meet Punjab, who had to fight hard for a 2-1 win over Karnataka. After a goalless first half, Kulsumbi DC put Karnataka ahead in the 52nd minute via a penalty corner. The lead was short-lived as seven minutes later Harmanjeet Kaur restored parity. Punjab got the winner in the 66th minute through Thokchom Anuradha Devi.

Orissa also booked a passage into the last four with a solitary goal win over Jharkhand in the 50th minute. Nolo Lilima scored

In the last match of the day, Haryana edged past Madhya Pradesh Sports & Youth Affairs 5-4 via tie-breaker. Both teams were 1-1. During regulation period, Navjot scored for Haryana while Pinky Devi Thokchom levelled for MP. In the tie-breaker, Meenakshi, Jaspreet, Surinder Kaur and Ramandeep Kaur scored for Haryana while Raina Yadav, Ranjeeta Sanasam and Rijuta Mullick found the mark for MP. The semis will be played on Saturday.