Telangana did one better on Wednesday. After letting in 20 goals from Tamil Nadu in its first match at the National senior women’s football championship, it slid to a 0-21 defeat to Punjab at the Medical College ground here.
Remarkably, Telangana did not concede a goal till the 11th minute. Once Neha Mann struck, the floodgates were opened. Nisha and Deepika netted seven goals apiece, while Asha Kumari scored four.
Later in the day, in a much more evenly contested encounter, Tamil Nadu and Bengal drew 1-1. Sandhiya put Tamil Nadu ahead in the 20th minute with her ninth goal of the tournament — she is the top-scorer — before Sumitra Marandi equalised in the 45th.
The results (preliminary league):
Group C: Assam 8 (Rupali Boro 2, Sanila Basumatary 16, Sonia Marak 20, 77 & 78, Sainjali Kemprai 21 & 81, Swapnali Mili 57) bt Bihar 1 (Putul Kumari 59); Himachal Pradesh 1 (Poonam 15) bt Rajasthan 0.
Group D: Goa 2 (Stessi Cardozo 45+4, Sushmita Jadhav 51) bt Jharkhand 0; Delhi 2 (Anjana Thapa 4 & 85) bt Karnataka 1 (Savi Mehta 11-og).
Group E: Sikkim 2 (Suju Hangma Limboo 1, Prekila Tamang 67) bt Arunachal Pradesh 0; Maharashtra 2 (Aishwarya Bhonde 47, Sapna Jaiswar 88) bt Jammu & Kashmir 0.
Group H: Tamil Nadu 1 (Sandhiya 20) drew with Bengal 1 (Sumitra Marandi 45); Punjab 21 (Neha Mann 11 & 40, Nisha 18, 43, 45+2, 57, 61, 63 & 89, Asha Kumari 20, 45, 68 & 74, Deepika 33, 34, 39, 45+1, 45+3, 56, 90+3, Binita Kerketta 90+2) bt Telangana 0 .
