Haryana make roaring start

Haryana and Bombay kick-started their campaign at the 56th IHF Senior women’s National hockey championship in superb fashion, scoring crushing victories here on Wednesday.

Favourites Haryana drubbed a hapless Kerala 14-0 in a Pool H match while Bombay set the tempo earlier in the day with a 18-0 drubbing of Tamil Nadu in Pool A at the KSHA stadium.

With defending champions Railways pulling out of the tournament along with powerhouse Jharkhand following Hockey India’s directive urging the players to join the National camp at New Delhi, the onus was on Haryana to stamp their authority and they did in fine fashion.

Not necessarily hitting the top gear, considering the heat and quality of the oppostion, Haryana — who clinched the Nationals conducted by HI in January this year — still packed a punch, rolling over a clueless Kerala with ease.

Bharti led the goal fest with four while Ramneek and Navneet struck a treble each. Lakwinder, Narinder and Jaswinder contributed one each in a completely lop-sided match.
Solid in all departments of the game, Haryana hardly allowed Kerala any breathing space. Despite Kerala packing the defence in numbers, Haryana found no problems scoring, producing some fine exchanges.

Running for cover continously, Kerala were able to enter the Haryana striking circle just twice in the hour-long contest, but both attempts resulted in swift counter-attacking goals.

Results: Pool H: Haryana: 14 (Bharti 3rd, 25th, 36th, 55th, Ramneek 8th, 30th, 48th, Navneet 9th, 12th, 41st, Lakwinder 15th, Narinder 35th, Jaswinder 52nd) bt Kerala: 0.
Pool A: Bombay: 18 (Hanuman 11th, 12th, 33rd, 40th, 46th, Pukhrambam 19th, 58th, 59th, Sanasam 21st, 32nd, Chowdury S 25th, 37th, Dodke 26th, Mohammed 29th, Singh 36th, 41st, 51st, Kispotta 53rd) bt Tamil Nadu: 0; Delhi: 7 (Nisha 3rd, Sangeetha 13th, 24th, 29th, 39th, Pooja 21st, Ashna 50th) bt Vidarbha: 1 (Keerthi 11th).