Times of India: Khelo India School Games: Mumtaz leads UP to facile win, Punjab, Haryana earn full points

NEW DELHI: Spearheaded by skipper Mumtaz Khan, who scored three goals, Uttar Pradesh commenced their campaign with a facile 7-0 win over Chhattisgarh in the girls’ hockey competition of the Khelo India School Games at Dhyan Chand stadium in New Delhi on Thursday.

In the first match of the day in Pool A, the Haryana girls overpowered Jharkhand 4-2 while in the afternoon Punjab had to wage a battle before downing Chandigarh 3-1 in Pool B.

For Uttar Pradesh, who led 3-0 at half time, besides Mumtaz Khan, the other goal scorers were Simran Singh (2), Sawarnika and Vinamrta Yadav (one each). The UP team served notice to their rivals with a super display of attacking hockey and outpaced their rivals in all departments of the game.

Chhattisgarh players put up a good resistance for first 18 minutes but once they conceded a goal in the 19th minute they became defensive allowing Uttar Pradesh to take over the possession of the mid-field.

Uttar Pradesh strikers took full advantage and surged ahead in the 19th through Sawarnika, Vinamrata made it 2-0 and then Mumtaz converted a penalty corner to make it 3-0. In the second session, the winners pumped in four more to complete the rout.

Earlier, Haryana outpaced Jharkhand and converted two penalty corner to lead 2-0 at half-time. The winners pumped in two more goals before conceding two in the dying minutes of the game. Captain Sharmila scored two goals while Nidhi and Anu chipped in with a goal each. For Jhaskhand, Ropni Kumari and Subhani Bhengra scored a goal each to reduce the margin.

In the third match, a brace by Harpreet Kaur enabled Punjab to overcome Chandigarh 3-1. Chandigarh took the lead through Akshita Yadav in the 26th minute but Harpreet Kaur drew parity for Punjab just before half-time.

In the second session, Harpreet converted a penalty corner in 55th minute to make it 2-1 and six minutes before the end Simranjeet Kaur made it 3-1 to seal the match in Punjab’s favour.