Kulbir Singh Saini
Jalandhar, March 22
Defending champions Northern Railways of Delhi will cross swords with Western Railways of Mumbai and hosts Rail Coach Factory of Kapurthala will take on South Eastern Railways in the semi- finals of the 30th All India Inter Railways Women Hockey Championship at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here on Tuesday.
The Rail Coach Factory girls displayed good hockey to hold Northern Railways to a 1-1 draw. The RCF girls put pressure from the first minute and got the first penalty corner in the 5th minute and Lalremruati converted it indirectly ( 1-0). At half time RCF were leading by 1-0. In the 55th minute former international Pritam Siwatch scored the equalizer from the left flank ( 1-1). With this draw Northern Railways topped pool with with better goal average. They got seven points with two wins and one draw. RCF finished runners-up in pool A with seven points.
In the second league match South Eastern Railways derailed Western Railways by 2-1. SER took lead in the 29th minute with a field goal by Binita Xess (1-0). In the 58th minute Ruhuta Mullick equalized for Western Railways ( 1-1). In the 63 rd minute Punita Minz snatched the match winner for SER (2-1). With this win SER topped the pool B with nine points and Western Railways with 6 points were second in their pool.
In the third match West Central Railways scored their first win by beating North Eastern Railways with a solitary goal scored by Dulari Minz in the 59th minute.
In the fourth match Central Railways beat East Central Railways by 6-1. The scorers for the winners were Sadhana Singh (42nd and 47th minutes), Reena Kanti (19th), Usha Singh (23rd), Sarita Hanuman (48th). The lone goal for ECR was scored by Anita Swasi in the last minute of the match.
Courtesy: Balbir Singh & Kulbir Saini