It’s UP vs Haryana in final

Haryana will have a daunting task ahead of them as they face an impressive Uttar Pradesh side for the under-20 women’s hockey national championship at the Gachibowli Stadium on Wednesday.

In the first semifinal played on Tuesday, the girls from Haryana defeated Karnataka 5-1 despite the latter’s attack-minded set-up. But the game that would have given the Indian Hockey Federation — the organisers of the meet — an opportunity to pat their backs was the second semifinal between Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai.

To start with, on paper, Mumbai had enough firepower in their arsenal to counter Uttar Pradesh’s attacking threat. The good

UP captain Kavita Maurya was in superb form as her side blanked Mumbai 5-0 in the semifinals

forms shown by Nimmy Nair, Ruqqaiya Shaikh and their captain Tanaz Mohammed in the previous matches only boosted the confidence of Mumbai coach Ignatius D’Souza.

But whatever strategy D’Souza chalked out and whatever ambitions his girls would have had were all ripped apart as Uttar Pradesh romped home to 50 victory. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say the scoreline actually did not do justice to UP’s juggernaut.

Such was their captain Kavita Maurya’s dominance in the middle of the park, Anamika Singh’s ability to initiate a counter-attack and the sharpness provided by Aakriti Choudary and Annu Kumari that when the UP quartet combined to form a melody, Mumbai went out of tune.

However, Uttar Pradesh did take some time to get into the groove as Mumbai passed the ball confidently. Tanaz even tried to show her mastery with some lovely scoops and lofted passes.

And when Uttar Pradesh did string together a few passes to penetrate the ‘D’, centre-forward Aakriti was clumsy with her finish.

But little did Mumbai know that the rustiness was due to the time UP took to jam their instru- ments, cos once it did fell in sync, it was ‘ one-way ticket.’

UP’s Seema Bharti and Aakriti scored as they headed into the break with a 2-0 cushion. But post halftime, their attack took an all new level of ruthlessness.

UP split the Mumbai defence time and again with their short but quick passing game. And goals were inevitable. Aakriti score two more to complete her hat-trick while Kavita deservedly got one for herself after having a hand in all other goals.

Haryana surely have a lot to think if they have to usurp UP’s show.