Himachal Pradesh outplayed Delhi 5-2 (2-2) on penalties while Assam edged past Tamil Nadu 3-1 in their respective semifinals to set up the title clash in the fourth Hockey India senior women’s National championship (B Division) here on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu opened the scoring through Karuppayee in the fourth minute but Assam took charge thereafter. Seema Bharti levelled two minutes later while Shikha Singh and Pooja Choudhary scored one goal apiece for Assam.
In the other semifinal, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh dominated one half each. Delhi took a 2-1 lead in the first half but Himachal fought back in the second and Rachana Jamalta levelled scores.
In the shoot-out, Sonia Rani, Sonia and Rachana scored for Himachal while ‘keeper Kanika Devi did not allow Delhi to score any.
The results (semifinals): Assam 3 (Seema Bharti, Shikha Singh, Pooja Choudhary) bt Tamil Nadu 1 (Karuppayee); Himachal Pradesh 2 (Pooja Devi, Rachana Jamalta) bt Delhi 2 (Pooja 2) on penalties.
A DIVISION:Pool A: Haryana 11 (Navneet Kaur 5, Navjot Kaur 3, Bharti, Ritu Rani, Sonika) bt Odisha 0.
Pool B: UP 7 (Pratibha Chaudhary 3, Savita 2, Rachna Chourasia, Vaishali A. Lal) bt Bihar 1 (Jyoti Pandey).
Pool C: SAI 6 (Shabnam Lakra 2, Priya Rai 2, Etwari, Punam) bt Mumbai 2 (Nishi Singh, Jahan Arra).
Pool D : Punjab 14 (Sukhjit Kaur 4, Anuradha 4, Gurjit Kaur 3, Anu Bala, Monica Badram, Gurwant Kaur) bt Kerala 1 (K.S. Sooryalakshmi).
Karnataka 7 (A.K. Ranjitha 3, K.R. Teena 2, B.P. Nandini, P.G. Muthamma) bt Maharashtra 2 (Pratibha Sawant 2).
