Railways women enter last four

Star-studded Railways stormed into the semi-finals of the Senior National women’s hockey championship, routing Uttar Pradesh 7-0 at the Motilal Nehru Sports School here on Thursday. India internationals Jasjeet Kaur Handa scored three goals while skipper Saba Anjum and Deepika Thakur accounted for two each for Railways. Railways were joined in the last four stage by Punjab, Orissa and Haryana, who overcame stiff resistance from Karnataka, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh Sports and Youth Affairs respectively in their quarter-final encounters. Punjab came from behind to beat Karnataka 2-1. Kulsumbi DC put Karnataka ahead but Harmanjeet Kaur and Anuradha Devi scored for Punjab. Orissa struggled to beat Jharkhand by a solitary goal scored by Nolo Lilima while Haryana managed to edge past MP 5-4 in tie-breaker after being locked 1-1. 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 the losers.