Bombay, Haryana split points

The star of the day for them was, however, Poonam Surin who hit two superb goals ably supported by Pepki Das. It was this duo who frustrated the Haryana defence. Poonam converted off a Pepki pass when the match was just four minutes old.

But Haryana, came back with renewed vigour. There were waves of attacks and Saini Suman Bala restored parity 10 minutes later from their third penalty corner.

With a minute left for the interval, Poonam and Pepki combined well to do the trick once again for Bombay.

Bombay gained in confidence and with timely interceptions, stopped all their opponents’ attempts to score. However, they could hold on only till the 57th minute. A counter attack saw Surinder Kaur feeding to an unmarked Saini Kiran Bala who did not waste time to bang home the equaliser.

Bihar dominate

The morning match between Bihar and Punjab which the former won by a goal was a keen tussle. The Biharis through their short passing and explosive runs enjoyed a slight edge almost throughout.

Bihar, with half a dozen internationals at senior and junior level, showed better maturity against Punjab, a bunch of college girls. Punjab’s robust defence was stretched at times to contain the marauding Bihar forwardline in which Adline Kerketta, a junior international, and S Khalkho sparkled.

The all-important goal was scored by Adline off a pass from Jasmini Tiru in the 25th minute by a weak push as the Punjab custodian Amandeep Kaur came up to tackle her.

Punjab had a gilt-edged chance to even the score soon after resumption when captain Rajwinder Kaur dribbled past the entire rival defence, entered the `D’ and shot. Bihar keeper N Mundu, totally out of position, was beaten, but the ball went past left upright by inches. On the other side, deep defender Kulwinder Kaur made a goalline save at the end of a determined raid by Bihar’s Aldine, M Surin and H Soy.

For Punjab, half-back Mohan Dawinder Kaur played her heart out creating chanc after chanc, but inept shooting by her colleagues let them down very badly in the end.

Orissa prevail

The Orissa-UP match was more or less an evenly contested one. Though Orissa could force nine penalty corners, all of them proved to be abortive.

Orissa surged ahead in the 28th minute through a field goal by Sarita Lakra. The lead was however short-lived as the UP captain Sukro Sanga found the equaliser in two minutes. The winner for Orissa was the contribution of Mariam Lakra in the 42nd minute through a superbly executed field goal.

This is the second loss for UP in as many matches.

Wednesday’s Matches

AP vs Punjab (7.30 a.m.); Haryana vs UP (2.30 p.m.) and Indian Railways vs Bihar (4 p.m.).