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Bombay set up Haryana final

Karnataka go down in semifinals
Last Updated 13 April 2011, 15:52 IST
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Ranjeta Sanasam and Reena Ekka struck on the counters while Sarita Hanuman capitalised on an erroneous piece of defending as Bombay outsmarted the hosts with a solid all-round display to set up a cracking final with favourites Haryana at the KSHA stadium.

Haryana, who survived by the skin of their teeth in the quarterfinals against MP Academy, bounced back in thumping fashion, crushing Bhopal 7-1 in a lop-sided last-four battle.
Despite the controversy surrounding the participation of four of their key players -- goalkeeper Ranjitha, midfielder Rakshitha and strikers Kulsumbi and Saira Banu -- Karnataka started the match promisingly. Just like they did in their confidence-boosting 8-2 victory over Delhi in the last-eight tussle on Sunday, the hosts arrived with a strong intent, catching Bombay by surprise with their pace.

They dominated play around the midfield, but did a huge mistake of holding onto the ball for too long, allowing Bombay defence the time to cut out any threat. Given their big match experience, the visitors hardly panicked, taking time to settle down and once they did so, it only spelt trouble for the hosts.

Forced to do all the running, Bombay stroked ahead from a penalty when Nishi Chowdury’s goal-bound ricocheted off a Karnataka defender’s leg. Ranjeeta stepped and slammed it easily past Karnatala goalkeeper Ranjitha in the 17th minute before Reena made it 2-0 with a brilliant counter attack two minutes from interval.

Karnataka had their chances inbetween, but with medios Munirathnamma and Muthamma failing to string together a decent final pass, their challenge fell flat. Sarita then put the contest out of the hosts’ reach, making the best use of a wonderful gift. Karnataka defender Yashaswini failed to stop a direct ball inside the circle and Sarita pounced on it, directing it into the goal.

Munirathnamma injected some hope for the hosts with a 56th-minute strike but Bombay held on without any further trouble to march into the title round.

Results, semifinals: Bombay: 3 (Ranjeta Sanasam 17th, Reena Ekka 33rd, Sarita Hanuman 50th) bt Karnataka: 1 (Munirathnamma 56th); Haryana: 7 (Bharti 26th, 29th, Ramneek 36th, 45th, Jatinder 42nd, Navneet 53rd, 68th) bt Bhopal: 1 (Balvider Mehra 65th).

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(Published 13 April 2011, 15:49 IST)

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