Rohtak: Semi – Final day at the 6th Hockey India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2016 (A Division) saw two exciting clashes. The first semi- final was won by Hockey Punjab by 4-1 against Hockey Haryana. The second semi-final of the day was won by Sports Authority of India who defeated Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 1-0 to reach the finals.
The first semi- final of the day between Hockey Punjab and Hockey Haryana started with Hockey Punjab going on the attack since the start of the match. Punjab managed to get the upper hand in the seventh minute through a penalty corner opportunity in the 7th minute. The penalty corner was successfully converted by the Captain Reet. Haryana got the equalizer in the 9th minute through Manju Chorsiya. Hockey Punjab in order to find the next goal pressed hard and before the end of the first half the opportunity came from another penalty corner conversion by the Punjab Captain Reet to restore the one goal lead in the 32nd minute. The first half ended with the score at 2-1 in favour of Punjab.
Punjab re-energized by their late first half goal pushed hard and kept up the pressure on Haryana. The Hockey Haryana defense held strong waiting for the opportunity to create the perfect counter attack. Punjab instead maintained the pressure and got two goals within the span of 5 minutes just before the end of the second half to seal the place in the final with a score of 4-1.
The second semi- final between Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Sports Authority of India saw a rather low scoring encounter. The first half saw tight defense from both the teams as no goals were scored. The second half saw the solitary goal of the match being scored by Sadhna Sengar in the 39th minute to make the score 1-0 in favour of Sports Authority of India. The Sports Authority of India maintained a strong defensive line to keep the score at 1-0.
Hockey Punjab and Sports Authority of India will the play the final on 14th February, 2016.
