Germany triumph, India third

Ritu Sejwal, TNN

NEW DELHI: It was all about a golden goal in the end at the 22nd Lal Bahadur Shastri Under-21 women’s hockey tournament. Germany’s Viola Scharf’s equalizer in the 45th minute pushed the final between Germany and New Zealand to extra time on Saturday, and Sophie Mayen clinched the title for the Europeans with the golden goal in the fifth minute. Germany won 3-2.

Mayen, who was later awarded the ‘player of the match’, utilized the pass from Pia Oldhafter to flick it over the goalkeeper. New Zealand’s Sian Fremaux was declared the player of the tournament.

Earlier, hosts India beat Australia 3-2 to finish third. The game came to life in the eleventh minute when Australia earned its first penalty corner. The match then saw a number of close attempts from both teams with Australia tasting success in the 32nd minute when Brooke Peris smoothly flicked the ball in.

Falling behind, the hosts upped the attack to earn back-to-back penalty corners but could not take advantage. Minutes into the second half, Indian captain Poonam Rani came up with an equalizer from a penalty corner. But the Aussie girls were immediately shot back through a penalty corner in the 41st minute. Striker Anupa Barla, who was named the ‘player of the match’, scored the equalizer a minute later, and there was to be no extra-time when she scored the winning goal in the 65th minute.

TIMES IMPACT

Scholarship for Neha

The Sun Foundation on Saturday came forward to award India’s Neha Goyal, the youngest member of the bronze-winning Indian team, scholarship of Rs 10,000 per month for a year. The scholarship will continue, depending on Neha’s performance. The 14-year-old Neha’s talent and financial constraints were first highlighted by TOI on Thursday.