Himachal Pradesh, Assam women enter national hockey final

Himachal Pradesh surpassed Delhi and Assam edged past Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals to enter the summit clash of the National Women's Hockey Championship (Division B) at the Aish Bagh Hockey Stadium here Tuesday.

Assam defeated Tamil Nadu 3-1. Tamil Nadu opened its account (fourth minute) through Karuppayee but Assam's Seema Bharti's (sixth) levelled the scores. A penalty corner conversion by Shikha Singh (15th) and a field goal by Pooja Choudhary (31st) helped Assam take a 3-1 lead at halftime. With no goal being scored in the second half, Assam entered the final.

In the second semi-final Himachal Pradesh edged past Delhi 3-0 via penalty shoot-out. Delhi dominated the first half, bagging a 2-1 lead. Delhi opened (14th) when Pooja made no mistake in converting a penalty corner. Himachal Pradesh equalised (32nd) through a penalty corner converted by Pooja Devi. Three minutes later Delhi scored their second through Pooja.

The second half saw Himachal Pradesh putting pressure on the opponents and in the 44th minute, Rachana Jamalta successfully converted a penalty corner. The two teams ended 2-2 after regulation time.

For Himachal Pradesh, Sonia Rani, Sonia and Rachana Jamalta scored in the shoot-outs and their goalkeeper Kanika Devi's potent interception restricted Delhi from scoring any.

Semi-final results: Assam 3 beat Tamil Nadu 1; Himachal Pradesh 2 tied Delhi 2 -- Shoot-out: Himachal Pradesh 3 beat Delhi 0.