Saifai (Uttar Pradesh), 20 April 2015: The 5th Senior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Women) Division B commenced today in Saifai, Uttar Pradesh, which was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of State – Sports, Youth Welfare & Forest, Shri Fareed Mahfooz Kidwai, at a glittering ceremony. The opening day of the championship today, saw four back-to-back clashes between eight teams aiming to start their run on a winning note.

The inaugural day witnessed a thrilling match where Chhattisgarh Hockey defeated Hockey Uttarakhand 9-2. The second match of Pool A observed Steel Plant Sports Board registering their first win against Hockey Gujarat 3-1. In the third match of Pool C Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu overcame Hockey Andhra Pradesh 6-1. Hockey Bihar opened their account on a winning note by defeating Hockey Vidarbha 8-0.

The first match on the opening day of the tournament witnessed Chhattisgarh Hockey trouncing Hockey Uttarakhand 9-2 and registering their first win of the Championship. The player who got everyone’s attention was Pooja Yadav whose 3 goals helped take her team to a strong win. Hockey Uttarakhand got the jolt as early as the 7th minute when two consecutive goals by the opponents resulted in them trailing the game 0-2. This gave Chhattisgarh Hockey the edge as they continued their dominance. They added their third goal in the 14th minute as Renuka Rajput deflected the ball into the nets for a field goal. Chhattisgarh Hockey continued raining goals as they added to the tally of goals in the 21st, 29th, 32nd and 35th minute leaving Hockey Uttarakhand trailing the game 7-0 at the end of first half. The second half saw Hockey Uttarakhand start the session, as they scored their first goal in the 38th minute when Shubham slammed the ball into the nets leaving no opportunity for the goalkeeper to react. This did not dent the spirits of Chhattisgarh Hockey as they continued from where they left in the first half. Pooja Yadav scored through a field effort which marked her second goal and the team’s eighth. Trailing the game 1-8, Hockey Uttarakhand scored their second goal in the 56th minute when the team were awarded with a penalty stroke and which was successfully converted by Monika Rawat. But goals started coming in late for Hockey Uttarakhand and they lost the match 9-2.
The second match between Steel Plant Sports Board and Hockey Gujarat was an exciting clash as each team looked for opening the Championship with a win. While Hockey Gujarat were good at their defence and attack, but Steel Plant Sports Board proved to be a better team as they managed to sneak in three goals and kept the opponents at bay, to win the match 3-1. While most of the first half was a dry run, it was in the 26th minute when Meena Chakre entered the D and a clean pass to her was slammed into the nets giving Steel Plant Sports Board their opening goal. With no further goals scored Steel Plant Sports Board was leading the game 1-0. The second half and Steel Plant Sports Board scored their second goal when Meena Chakre through a field effort took the scoreboard to 2-0. Trailing by two goals Hockey Gujarat increased their tempo of attack and they struck success in the 51st minute when Parmeshwari Shah did no mistake in deflecting a pass into the nets and scoring the first goal for her team. But this did not put a stop to Steel Plant Sports Board intention of winning and they went on to add their winning goal in the 55th minute as Shashi Kala who stood tall to score. Steel Plant Sports Board won the game 3-1.

The match between Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu and Hockey Andhra Pradesh was a one sided affair as the former dominated and winning the game 6-1. The winning team struck in the 17th minute when R Jayalakshmi through a field effort scored the opening goal of the match. M Keerthana doubled the lead for Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu when she beat the defence of the opponents to add the second goal to the tally. Right before going into the second half, Hockey Andhra Pradesh as they bounced back to score their first goal coming from the stick of Poojitha B taking the half time scores to 2-1 in favour of Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu. The goal right before the end of first half did not put Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu into any kind of pressure as right into the second half their third goal was added to the tally by K. Vijaya Lakshmi. With a lead of 3-1, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu scored three more goals coming in the 49th, 57th and 59th minute and winning the match 6-1.

The last match of the opening day of the championship saw Hockey Bihar starting their campaign on a winning note by defeating Hockey Vidarbha 8-0. While Hockey Bihar dominated the whole match, Hockey Vidarbha failed to impress with their skills as they were unable to score any goals in the entire match. Hockey Bihar took the initial lead through Shilwanti Minjur who struck in the 9th minute from a penalty corner while Dolly Kumari scored a field goal in the 16th minute to make it 2-0. Hockey Bihar was in no mood to give away any scoring opportunities to Hockey Vidarbha and it was Anila Sosan Beck who contributed two field goals to her team in the 28th and 45th minute for Hockey Bihar. Hockey Bihar kept its scoring momentum and through Shilwanti Minjur’s remarkable efforts, added two more goals to its tally in the 35th and 43rd minute. Hockey Bihar intensified their attacks and was leading with a score of 6-0. They were rightly benefitted when Nagma Khatoon scored in the 47th minute followed by Dolly Kumari who proved to be too strong for Hockey Bihar as she struck the eighth goal for her team in the 50th minute. With Hockey Vidarbha unable to open their account, all their efforts went in vain as Hockey Bihar celebrated its first victory by routing Hockey Vidarbha 8-0.

Results of the day-

Pool A Chhattisgarh Hockey 9 Hemlata Yadav (7min-FG), Annu Gurang (8 min-FG, 21 min-FG), Renuka Rajput (14 min-FG, 28 min-FG), Pooja Yadav (31 min-FG, 54 min-FG, 59 min-FG), Gayatri Shinde (35 min-FG, 56 min-FG) vs Hockey Uttarakhand 2 Shubham (38 min FG), Monika Rawat (56 min-PS)

Pool A Steel Plant Sports Board 3 Meena Chakre (26 min-FG, 39 min-FG), Shashi Kala (55 min-FG) vs Hockey Gujarat 1 Parmeshwari Shah (51 min-FG)

Pool C Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 6 R. Jayalakshmi (17 min-FG), B. Jelastina (34 min-FG), K Vijaya Lakshmi (40 min-FG), M. Keerthana (49 min-FG), M. Mohan Priya (57 min-FG, 59 min-FG) vs Hockey Andhra Pradesh 1 Poojitha B. (34 min-FG)

Pool B Hockey Bihar 8 Shilwanti Minjur (9min- PC, 35 min-FG, 43min- FG), Dolly Kumari (16min-FG, 50min- FG)), Anila Sosan Beck (28-FG, 45min-FG), Nagma Khatoon (47min-FG) vs Hockey Vidarbha 0