Railways to clash with Haryana in Wom Sr National Hock final

Sonepat, Jan 29 (PTI) Railways mauled Punjab 9-0 to setup a summit clash against Haryana in the first Hockey IndiaSenior Women''s National Championship at Motilal Nehru SportsSchool at Rai today.

Jasjeet Kaur (seventh and 45th ), Rani (25th and 63rd),Joydeep Kaur (31st and 53rd) struck twice each while ChanchanDevi Thokchom (second minute), Saba Anjum (12th) and PoonamRani (68th) found the target once.

In another semifinal match today, Haryana had to sweat alot before beating Orissa 3-0. The home side scored three lategoals to set up the final against Punjab.

Railways were the overwhelming favourites to beat Punjabin the first semifinal and they did it in style.

Chanchan drew first blood for the Railways in the secondminute when her deflection from Deepika Thakur''s cross wentpast Punjab goalkeeper Gursharan Kaur.

Jasjeet Kaur Handa scored the second goal from a penaltycorner in the seventh minute while captain Saba Anjum struckfrom an indirect five minutes later to open the floodgates forthe Railways.

Teenage striker Rani combined with Poonam Rani in the25th minute to increase the lead to 4-0 while defender JoydeepKaur sounded the boards from another penalty corner in the31st minute to establish a commanding lead at half time.

Punjab again had no answer to the Railway onslaughts inthe second half as they caved in meekly conceding four moregoals.

Jasjeet scored her second goal firing home after beingset up by Mukta Barla in the 45th minute. This was followed byJoydeep sinking another penalty corner past the haplessGursharan Kaur in the 53rd minute.

Rani added her name again on the scorersheet recordingher brace in the 63rd minute after wrong footing a couple ofPunjab defenders, while Poonam Rani completed the tally twominutes from the final whistle.

In the second semifinal, Orissa fought stubbornly to denyfancied Haryana any success till the 57th minute when thehome side broke the ice with winger Meenakshi deflecting in apenalty corner.

The goal appeared to have broken Orissa''s spirit asHaryana found flair and fluency in their attacks to score twomore goals.

Surinder Kaur neatly pushed past Toppo from a penaltycorner to increase the score three minutes later while fullback Jaspreet Kaur slotted home from a 68th minute penaltystroke to give Haryana a 3-0 victory.