Manipur retain women's football title

Defending champions Manipur exploited a sloppy defence to carve out a 3-2 victory over hosts Punjab and retain the title in the women's football event at the 31st National Games in Jalandhar on Friday.

In the summit clash, which mostly saw pretty ordinary soccer dished out by both teams in the 70 minutes of play, K Lokeshwori, S Manitombi and N Geeta Rani scored for Manipur while Balwinder Kaur and Rajwant Kaur reduced the margin for Punjab late in the second session.

Manipur shot into the lead in the 12th minute when Lokeshwori headed home a measured centre from the hard-working L Chaoba, who had a very good day on the field.

Leading 1-0 at the break, the defending champions increased the pace in the second half and the strategy seemed to pay dividends as they managed to slam in two more goals in quick succession to virtually seal the fate of Punjab.

Medio Manitombi scored Manipur's second goal in the 38th minute, when she neatly placed another fine pass by Chaoba, that gave no chance to the Punjab custodian Amandeep Kaur, who was little tentative under the bar.

Striker Geeta Rani put the match further away from the hosts' reach in the 50th minute when she pounced on a rebound to give Manipur a 3-0 ahead.

An unmarked Geeta Rani showed good reflexes as she volleyed from close after Chaoba's attempt was deflected by the Punjab custodian.

Sitting on a 3-0 cushion, the Manipur girls seemed to relax a little bit and paid a heavy price as the hosts tried to script a spirited comeback scoring two goals in seven minutes.

Medio Balwinder Kaur reduced the margin for the hosts in the 55th minute when she found the target with a crisp volley following a freekick by Paramjit Kaur.

Punjab struck again in the 62nd minute through Rajwant Kaur, who managed to pierce through the defence and tap the ball into the goal after Kulwinder Kaur had done the spadework from the left flank.

Manipur, who dominated the opening session and the early stages of the second half, seemed to lose their rhythm towards the end of the contest but by then they were already assured of the title.