Punjab, Gwalior girls to lock horns in final
The Punjab school won the game in the shootout as Grewal, Ramanpreet Kaur and Priyanka hit the target
Baba Zoravar Singh Fateh Singh Senior Secondary Public School, Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab), and Kiddy’s Corner HR Secondary School, Gwalior (MP), will battle it out for the 23rd Nehru girls hockey tournament title.
The Punjab girls came from behind and edged past Lallengvunga High School, Thenzawl (Mizoram), in a penalty shootout 3-1 (2-2), while the Gwalior school brushed aside SS Girls High School, Simdega (Jharkhand), 3-1 in the semifinals at Shivaji Stadium on Wednesday.
In the first semi-final, Lalrembeseii opened the scoring for the Mizoram school in the 34th minute and were 1-0 at halftime. After the change of ends, Lalremsiami doubled the lead converting a penalty corner in the 47th.
Down 0-2, the Punjab girls changed gears and netted twice in a span of five minutes. Gurleen Grewal capitalised on a penalty stroke in the 59th minute and Reet scored the equaliser converting a penalty corner in the 64th to take the game into the shootout.
The Punjab school won the game in the shootout as Grewal, Ramanpreet Kaur and Priyanka hit the target, while the Mizoram girls missed thrice and netted once in four attempts.
In the second semi-final the Gwalior girls had a comfortable outing as Sneha Singh scored a brace and Seema Verma hit one goal to take them into the final. Verma put her team ahead as early as the 6th minute with a PC conversion while Sneha made it 2-0 in the 20th. Though, the Jharkhand girls pulled one back through Pinki Ekka in the 34th minute, Sneha sealed the win for the Madhya Pradesh school in the 68th.