Railways, Punjab in National
women's hockey final

Railways will clash with Punjab in the final of the 51st Senior women's national hockey championship,at the Surjit hockey stadium in Jalandhar, on Sunday.

In Saturday's semi-finals, Railways drubbed Mumbai 4-0, while Punjab overcame a strong challenge from last year's runners-up Haryana to emerge victorious 2-1 via a golden goal, after both teams were locked 1-1 in the stipulated 70 minutes of play.

This will be Railways' 18th consecutive entry into the final, having won the title on the last 17 occasions.

Punjab, who have been champions ten times, are in the final after six years.

For Punjab, it was lanky Renu Bala's day. She got both the goals for her team, including the golden goal, in the 14th minute of extra time, when her rasping penalty-corner drive flew into the net after touching a defenders stick.

The Railways-Mumbai affair was a dull encounter, with the former recording an unimpressive 4-0 win.

The goal scorers for the winners were Jyoti Kullu, who scored a brace, while Surinder Kaur and Mamta Kharab got one goal apiece.

Railways took the lead in the 11th minute, when Surinder connected a free hit from Sita Gossian into the goal. The winners led by a solitary goal at the breather though they had a number of chances to score but were kept at bay by the Mumbai defence.

In the 47th minute, Pritam Siwach, moving down the left flank, sent a cross to Surinder, whose hit rebounded off custodian Seema Lakra's pads and Mamta reacted quickly to send the ball into the net and give her side a 2-0 lead.

Six minutes later, it was Mamta who sent a through pass into the penalty circle and Jyoti Kullu pushed the ball to the right of the Mumbai custodian to make it 3-0.

In the dying minutes of the game, Railways got their fourth goal, when skipper Manjinder, after outshining three defenders, passed the ball to Jyoti Kullu at the top of the circle and her perfect hit sounded the boards.

The winners had three penalty-corners but failed to convert any while the losers had two.

The Haryana-Punjab match generated a lot of excitement with the hosts ultimately emerging winners 2-1 in extra-time. Both the goals for the winners came off penalty-corners, converted by full back Renu Bala, while for the losers, the lone goal was scored by Balwinder Kaur.