Four of the girls -- Surinder Kaur, Kiran Bala, Gurpreet Kaur and Simranjeet Kaur -- are from Shahbad in Haryana and are products of the Pritam Girls Senior Secondary School, girls champions of the Nehru Hockey Tournament.

Speaking to newsmen at a function at the National Stadium this afternoon, the team coach spoke of the hardships the team members had to undergo before coming out victorious in the final.

``The Indian girls had to surmount playing on a grid-iron football field strewn with several confusing markings and the technical panel's apparent bias towards England in the final to claim the four-nation under-21 tournament,'' he said.

``Our target was only to beat Chile, the weakest team, as we had no idea about the strength of United States and England. But our girls played extremely well,'' Antony said of the team's brilliant win in the tournament held at Keane University in New Jersey.

The squad, including the coach and manager Neena Walia, were accorded a warm welcome by the Indian Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF) at the National Stadium.

``We're proud of our girls. It is a fine beginning for our plans for the junior Asia Cup and World Cup events. This performance has encouraged our preparations for the 2002 Asian Games,'' IWHF President Vidya Stokes and secretary Amrit Bose said. Haryana girls Surinder Kaur, a member of the Bangkok Asian Games silver medal winning Indian squad, as the highest scorer with five goals was the heroine along with 16-year-old Mamta Kharab, who scored the `golden goal' in the final to give India the 2-1 victory.

Antony said the girls were affected by jet lag in their only defeat to England (0-1) in their first match. The pitch, though good and new, was meant for American style football and hence the series of marking were confusing.

Antony said in the final it was apparent the organisers and technical officials wanted England to win. ``Mamta scored the `golden goal' in the first minute of extra time to end the match, but the match was not stopped and the final hooter was sounded only when I rushed to the technical table and threatened to call the girls out,'' he explained.

Only Surinder Kaur, Pakpi Devi and Suman Jaiswal had prior experience of playing abroad, but the girls played their hearts out to complete the fine victory. India lost to England 0-1, but beat US 5-1 and Chile 10-0 to reach the final.

Antony, attached to the SAI, South Centre in Bangalore whose only previous tenure was in 1986-88 as junior girls coach, said he employed forward Kiran Bala as a free roaming midfielder (Libero) with the task to bottle up the rival playmaker and launch counter-attacks.

Plans are afoot to give the girls more exposure and the team will also be entered in the Indira Gandhi International Tournament planned for January next year.