MUMBAI, SEPT 29: Defending champions Haryana and Orissa strolled into the final of the Bank of Baroda 31st Junior Women's National hockey championship. The former trounced Karnataka and the latter had things their own way, mauling Chandigarh, in one-sided semi-finals at Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, today.Haryana began with a flourish and pressurised the rival defence from the very outset.Umpire Radha Sukumar caused a flutter in the 20th minute when she awarded a goal in favour of Haryana. The ball, which was struck from well outside the circle by Haryana centre-half Gurpreet Kaul, sped to the boards after striking a Haryana player's thigh. Karnataka protested and walked out. Radha then consulted the second referee, Madhu Yadav, and the technical committee before reversing her decision.Karnataka goalkeeper SS Nilan, who brought off half a dozen saves in the game, frustrated Meenakshi's attempt off a forward pass by Simarjeet. The ball was cleared from a bunch of defenders as Simarjeet tried to score of a pass by Gurpreet and Karnataka left-back VS Elizabeth brought off a goalline save, to keep the Karnataka's slate clean at the interval.Haryana took the lead in the 43rd minute. Haryana inside-left Rekha Rani's stiff shot from the top of the circle sped to the roof of the net after deflecting off a defender's stick, following a Suman Bala free-hit from near the 25-yard line.Haryana then struck again in the 56th and 69th minutes. First Simarjeet went past goalkeeper Nilan and tapped home off a square pass by Meenakshi. Next, inside-right Balwinder Kaur netted off a free-hit by Gurpreet.ORISSA DAZZLE: Orissa gave a good account of themselves when moving past last year's bronze medallist Chandigarh.Chandigarh played far below their potential; Orissa coach Sylvester Toppo explained why. Orissa had beaten this side 6-0 in the Federation Cup at Tirupathi this year. Add to that Orissa's 1-0 win in the Bangalore National Games final two years ago, Chandigarh had every reason to fear the Orissa attack.Inside-left Sarita Ekka scored from a goalmouth scramble to give Orissa the lead in the very second minute. The match was as good as over in the 33rd minute when Chandigarh defender Pooja deflected the ball into her own goal, a cross from the right by Bhamani Tirkey. Chandigarh reduced the margin in the 37th minute through an opportunistic goal by centre-forward Jyoti Bali. But another self-goal in 56th minute by defender Anu wrote off their hopes of survival. Right-winger Ejren Dadel rounded off the Orissa tally with a neat deflection following their tenth penalty-corner.ENGROSSING FINAL: Defending champions Haryana start clear favourites in tomorrow's final - their win over strong Indian Railways in the Fed Cup final this year is prove. But Orissa would also be looking to Tirupathi for inspiration. In a league match there, Orissa had beaten Haryana 2-1. Coach Toppo said he expects his girls to repeat that feat tomorrow.
