Kerketta brace puts Railways in final

Haryana gets past Punjab in the other semifinal

April 30, 2013 02:42 am | Updated November 16, 2021 08:10 pm IST - LUCKNOW:

In a tightly contested match, Railways’ Laurenua Kerketta (second from right)defied the Jharkhand defence to score twice in the space of five minutes. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

In a tightly contested match, Railways’ Laurenua Kerketta (second from right)defied the Jharkhand defence to score twice in the space of five minutes. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

The final of the National women’s hockey championship here on Tuesday will be a repeat of last year’s, with champion Railways taking on Haryana.

In the semifinals on Monday, the star-studded Railways managed to struggle past Jharkhand 2-1 while Haryana outplayed Punjab 3-1 at the Guru Govind Singh Sports College.

However, the two games were of contrasting nature.

The game between Jharkhand and Railways, as expected, was a close affair.

Despite the presence of several India players in the side, Railways struggled to find momentum and was guilty of missing several chances.

The sturdy Jharkhand defence only added to its problems. The first sign of things going wrong came when Jasjeet Kaur’s drag-flick off the team’s first penalty corner rebounded off the crossbar.

This came soon after Rosalin Dung Dung had failed to connect a cross in front of the goal. Despite the big names, Railways was on the back foot.

Jharkhand, on the other hand, played with purpose, and was faster, attacking more and creating chances. It had only its own errors to blame, however, missing open chances to score in the first 15 minutes.

Railways got its first goal in the 30th minute when Laurenua Kerketta slotted the ball in from close range. Four minutes later, she was again in the thick of things, taking two shots before scoring as Jharkhand suffered a rare defensive lapse.

Railways came out an improved side in the second half, but so did Jharkhand, the latter creating three penalty corners but failing to convert any.

It finally managed to pull one back through Punita Minz at the stroke of time but it was too late by then.

The difference between the two teams was experience. Railways, with the likes of veterans Asunta Lakra, Joydeep Kaur and Jasjeet Kaur in its ranks, managed to get a grip on its game after the initial stutter while Jharkhand, trailing by two goals, only ended up committing more mistakes.

The three Railways players proved why they are still among the best in the country — Lakra, in particular, was the chief architect of the victory, controlling the midfield effectively and managing ball distribution intelligently.

The second game was a dull affair. Haryana was the better team, but neither side matched the pace and skills seen in the first match.

After a goalless first half, Haryana scored three quick goals to take a comfortable lead.

Punjab reduced the margin with a goal from Lalremruati, but that was it.

The final looks all set to be a one-sided affair going Railways’ way, while Jharkhand, decidedly better than finalist Haryana, will consider itself unlucky to have missed out on making the final only because it ran into a better side in the semifinals.

The results: Semifinals: Railways 2 (Laurenua Kerketta-2) bt Jharkhand 1 (Punita Minz); Haryana 3 (Narinder, Reena Devi, Udita) bt Punjab 1 (Lalremruati 52).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.