ROHTAK: Defending champion Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) retained the title after a comprehensive 3-1 win over Hockey Haryana in the final of the women’s National hockey championships ‘A’ Division here on Sunday.
Led by Rio Olympian Anuradha Devi and with almost half its side comprising of national team regulars, Railways was favourite to win the tournament and it did not disappoint. Dominating all the way through, Railways played an attacking game and went ahead in the third minute through Neha.
Haryana, though, fought back and levelled three minutes later through Reet but that was to be its only success on the day.
Coached by former India captains Pritam Siwach and Sita Mehta, Railways was far superior to its opponent and once the players got settled, it was all about keeping possession and scoring enough to stay ahead. Navneet Kaur added a second goal in the 25th minute and Neha doubled her individual score, converting a penalty corner in the 50th minute to wrap up the title and end as her team’s top scorer in the tournament.
The Indian team regulars will now get together for the upcoming series against New Zealand next month. In the play-off for third spot, Hockey Madhya Pradesh beat Association of Indian Universities (AIU) by an identical margin. Shivani Singh, Ritu Singh and Neeraj Rana struck the goals for the winner while Jyoti Gupta, the team’s top-scorer, scored the lone goal for AIU.
The results (final):
Railways 3 (Neha 2, Navneet Kaur) bt Haryana 1 (Reet); Third-fourth playoff: Madhya Pradesh 3 (Shivani Singh, Ritu Singh, Neeraj Rana) bt AIU 1 (Jyoti Gupta).
