National title No 18 for Railway women

National title No 18 for Railway women
B David

JABALPUR, JANUARY 19: Defender Marystella Tirkey was the star of Railways on Wednesday. The Indian star bottled up Haryana's Surinder Kaur effectively for most part of the final as Indian Railways beat Haryana 2-0 for their 18th National Championship at the Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla Stadium on Wednesday.

Without international Surinder Kaur's speedy sprints down the rival flank, the Haryana attack suffered a severe jolt and the lone hard-working winger Meenakshi, who was adjudged player of the tournament later, failed to get any support.

Railways' sustained pressure on the Haryana goal yielded result in the form a short-corner in the third minute. Railways, whose conversion rate was poor in the tournament, meant business and took the set-piece drill seriously. Though Kamala Dalal failed to stop the ball dead following a swift and hard push by Suraj Lata, Sumrai Tete recovered in time to send it back across the goalmouth.

Suraj got the ball and sent a sizzling cross where Pritam Rani Siwach, who brokethe shackles of defender Suman Bala, lunged forward to deflect home the first goal.

Railways made a series of raids but Haryana's Gurpreet Kaur marked Pritam well and defender Suman Bala excelled in interceptions.

With five minutes to go for the hooter, Jyothi Sunitha Kullu, who got possession of the ball following a free-hit, dribbled to the right corner and sent a powerful grounder into the goalmouth. The ball hit a defender's stick and reached an unmarked Kamla Dalal in the striking circle and the doughty customer made best use of the opportunity, banging into the boards to seal the issue in favour of Railways.

Mumbai win bronze: In the Hardliners match, Mumbai defeated Punjab 3-1. Shangai Chanu put Mumbai in the lead in the 20th minute but 10 minutes after crossing over, Punjab got the equaliser through Mohan Davinder.

Poonam Surin put Mumbai ahead once again in the 55th minute and Shangai Chanu rounded off the tally four minutes from time.