Maharashtra begin campaign in style by thrashing Gujarat

Karnataka tasted defeat in the women’s section, too, at the hands of Uttar Pradesh losing 2-4, while young Orissa overcame a fighting Chandigarh 2-1 in Pool A matches and Punjab defeated Maharashtra 3-0 in a Pool B encounter.Karnataka men who dominated for most of the first session with repeated raids on the Bihar citadel failed to provide the finishing touches and missed a golden chance to shoot into the lead when Laxman Rao failed to convert penalty stroke shooting wide of the target.

In the 27th minute, following a penalty corner, Samson Fernandez shot at the goal was blocked by Bihar’s defender V Topno and the umpire had no hesitation in pointing out to the dreaded spot. However, Laxman’s miss prooved too costly, as Bihar took the lead three minutes after resumption and never looked back increasing the tempo of the game.

Significantly, Maharashtra hardly missed the presence of Dhanraj. With international Gavin Ferreira and Devender Kumar joining the team, they toyed with Gujarat, slamming in nine goals without reply. Devender scored in the 11th, 57th and 62nd minutes while Sabu Varkey struck twice. The other scorers for the winners were Saurab Bishnoi, Ravi Nayakar, Rajan Lakra and Tanu Nanjappa.

Dhillon shines: Baljit Singh Dhillon, who was hailed as a penalty corner specialist during the Atlanta Olympics had a field day in Punjab’s win. He scored thrice against Andhra Pradesh and set up goals for two others. However, twice he came up with field goals and converted a penalty corner only once. Andhra Pradesh prooved easy meat for the defending champions, who rested key players including Pargat Singh after taking a 5-0 half time lead.

The other scorers were Sukwinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh (two each), Surjit Singh and Baljit Singh Bhullar.

In the women’s section, Uttar Pradesh began with a 16th minute goal with Shashi Navait before Sarita Verma struck twice. In between Reena Sonkar too netted to take the break at 4-0. However, P M Ashwini of Karnataka scored twice in the second session to reduce the margin for the hosts.

In the other Pool B match, Chandigarh women went ahead against the run of the play. In a fast counter attack, Chandigarh’s Snehabala entered the striking circle and her hit was stopped by the goalkeeper. But Mamta was at hand to push home the rebound.

Stung by the reverse, Orissa girls, who were far superior to their rivals in trapping and hitting, went all out and managed the equaliser just before the break. Anarita Kerketta’s shot hit defender Harshadeep’s leg and Jashinta Toppo made no mistake to net the penalty stroke.

After the crossover, Orissa tightened the defence and the frontline too worked effectively to trouble the rivals time and again and were rewarded when Anarita Kerketta got the matchwinner in the 40th minute.

In a Pool A tie, Punjab women did not stretch themselves to beat Maharashtra 3-0. Harjeet Kaur scored twice in the 21st and 30th minutes while Renu Bala converted a penalty corner in the 36th.