Sr women's hockey nationals: Haryana overcome Maharashtra in shoot-out to bag third title 

Pune, March 23 (IANS) Hockey Haryana brought an end to Hockey Maharashtra’s hopes of winning the title at home with a 3-0 shoot-out victory to lift the crown in the 14th Hockey India Senior Women's National Championship 2024 at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium Nehru Nagar, Pimpri near here on Saturday. Haryana emerged champions in the tiebreaker after both teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

This was Haryana’s third championship having won it in 2013 and 2020. For Maharashtra, it was the second time that they had to settle for silver in consecutive years.

Hockey Haryana took the lead through India international Deepika (26th), who scored off a penalty corner in the third quarter. The hosts took a while to work themselves into a rhythm and work into the opponent’s defenses. It was Akshata Abaso Dhekale who restored parity, also from a set piece, to take the match into a shoot-out.

In the shoot-out, Navneet Kaur, Usha and Sonika scored for Hockey Haryana, while Priyanka Wankhede, Akansha Singh and Rutuja Dadaso Pisal missed for Hockey Maharashtra.

Earlier in the day, Hockey Jharkhand defeated Hockey Madhya Pradesh 2-0 to secure the third spot in the tournament.

India international Sangita Kumari scored an early field goal in the third minute before Supriya Mundu (59th) converted a penalty corner a minute from the hooter to seal the win for Hockey Jharkhand.

RESULTS:

Final: Hockey Haryana 1 (Deepika 3rd – p.c; Navneet Kaur, Usha, Sonika) bt Hockey Maharashtra 1 (Akshata Abaso Dhekale 54th).

3rd-4th place match: Hockey Jharkhand 2 (Sangita Kumari 3rd, Supriya Mundu 59th) bt Hockey Madhya Pradesh 0. HT: 1-0