Karnataka posted a convincing 4-1 win over Bhopal in a Pool ‘B’ encounter of the fourth National Junior women’s hockey championship (Division A) here at the Chamundi Vihar ground on Wednesday.
By keeping a balance between attack and defence, Karnataka were on top of their game from the start but they were unable to open their account, owing to Bhopal’s dogged defence.Bhopal, however, could not hold them down for long as N Ramya sounded the board a minute before half-time to put the hosts ahead.
With a 1-0 lead, Karnataka went on a goal hunt in the second half, resulting in three quick goals within eight minutes of each other.
CG Sushma (43rd), HP Sandhya (47th) and Niha (50th) extended Karnataka’s lead to 4-0. Bhopal pulled one back through Puja Yadav in the 56th minute. In another Pool ‘B’ match, Madhya Pradesh, who had routed Karnataka in their opening encounter on Tuesday, swatted aside Delhi with a 5-0 win to jump to the top of the table with six points from two matches.
Result: Pool B: Karnataka: 4 (Ramya N 34th, Sushma C G 43rd, Sandhya H P 47th, Niha 50th) bt Bhopal: 1 (Puja Yadav 56th); Madhya Pradesh: 5 (Rakhi Prajapati 8th, 25th, Anuja Singh 54th, 66th, Preeti Dubey 61st) bt Delhi: 0. Pool D: Odisha: 3 (Ambika Toppo 9th, Ashmitha Barla 33rd, Sarojini Ekka 54th) bt Punjab: 0; Mumbai: 7 (Pranali Patil 3rd, 60th, Shaikh Ruqqaiya 52nd, 66th, Preeti Bhatia 32nd, Jemimah Rodrigues 41st, Akansha Singh 50th) bt Bihar: 0.