37th National Games: Odisha, Haryana Enter Last Four In Women's Football

Akash Chandra Mahato: Odisha and Haryana marched into the semifinals of Women’s Football in the 37th National Games in Goa even before they played their last matches in the four-team Group B. On Monday, both teams emerged winners to take their points tally to six points from two matches.

On Wednesday, Odisha and Haryana will play each other to decide the group winners. Two other teams in the group, Chandigarh and Goa, are yet to earn a point.

On Monday, the day began with Haryana beating Chandigarh by a solitary goal. After a goalless first half, Neha scored the all-important goal in the 49th minute.

In the day’s other match, Odisha proved too hot to handle for hosts Goa as the visitors romped home 4-0. Odisha, who led by two goals at the breather, scored through Piyari Xaxa, S Lynda Kom, Subhadra Sahoo and Sumitra Hembrem.

Men’s Football kicks off at National Games

It wasn’t Goa’s day in National Games football on Monday. After crashing out of contention in women’s football, Goa men suffered an unexpected loss in the men’s section, too, when they went down to Services in Group A in Fatorda.

After the two teams contested evenly for most of the match, Services had the last laugh as Bikash Thapa scored the only goal of the day in the 86th minute.

In the day’s other match, Santosh Trophy champions Karnataka and Punjab played a goalless draw.

Semifinalists spotted in beach soccer

Kerala and Goa continued their smooth run as they grabbed the semi-final spots with all-win records in the group stage. In Group A, Kerala won their third consecutive match blanking Delhi 6-0 with Musheer TKB (2), Suhail, Roy R, Muhammed Unais and Ali Akbar A.P scoring the goals.

The other team to make the last four from Group A are Lakshadweep, who defeated Jharkhand 12-2. Muhammed Haseeb was the star of the show scoring six goals alone. Mohsin (2), Mirsad, Mohammed Ramees, Aboohuraira, and Mohammed Tahir got the other goals. Subhas Barua and Akash Chandra Mahato scored for Jharkhand.

The semifinalists from Group B are Goa and Punjab. Goa maintained their clean sheet in the group stages when they routed Uttarakhand 18-5. Satish Naik (5), Pedro Antonio Gonsalves (4) and Richard Cardoz (3) did the bulk of the scoring for Goa, while Nahal Parab (2), Kashinath Subhash Rathod (2), Latish Kunkolkar and Carl Joshua Dsouza struck the other goals. Uttarakhand’s five goals came through Sarshan (3), Mary Jesin Shagin and Chandan Karwa.

Punjab made the grade after beating Odisha 3-1. Karandeep Singh Manota accounted for all three goals for Punjab. Subash Pujari was Odisha’s scorer. In the semifinals on Tuesday, Kerala will take on Punjab, while Goa will play Lakshadweep.