Results from Day 1 of 8th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2018 (B Division)

Ranchi (Jharkhand), 26 January 2018: The 8th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2018 (B Division) commenced here today with Hockey Madhya Bharat, Hockey Chandigarh and Kerala Hockey, all starting their campaign on a bright note by winning their respective opening matches of the competition. In the opening Pool A match, Hockey Madhya Bharat defeated Telangana Hockey by a score line of 2-1. It was a close encounter which saw Sanju Prajapati from Hockey Madhya Bharat converting a Penalty Corner in the 24th minute to end the first half at 1-0. Skipper Geetha Dindu from Telangana Hockey scored in the 49th minute to equalize the scores. The attacking flair of Hockey Madhya Bharat turned out to be the difference as Kratika Chandra scored in the 54th minute to win the match for her team 2-1. In another Pool A match, Steel Plant Sports Board and Hockey Bihar played out a 2-2 draw which saw Captain Shikha Sharma take the lead for Steel Plant Sports Board in the 8th minute of the match. The second half saw Hockey Bihar put up an attacking display as they managed to score twice through Priti Singh (35') and Anila Sosan Beck (42') to take a 2-1 lead. However, Steel Plant Sports Board fought their way back in the closing stages of the game through Chanda Singh who scored in the 56th minute to secure a 2-2 draw for her team. In Pool B, Hockey Chandigarh defeated Hockey Andhra Pradesh by a score line of 9-0. Hockey Chandigarh dominated the game since the beginning, scoring their first goal in the 6th minute. The victors scored five goals in the first half and added another four to their tally in the second half to win the match comfortably. Goals for Hockey Chandigarh were scored by Manju (7' 40', 42', 58'), Sarabdeep Kaur (6', 8', 34'), Monika (20') and Shweta (49'). In another Pool B match, Kerala Hockey defeated Hockey Uttarakhand by a score line of 3-1. The match started off with KM Arya of Kerala Hockey opening the scoring for her team in the 7th minute. S Sibya and Mereena T Mathew also scored for their team in the 17th and 37th minutes respectively to give their team a 3-0 lead. However, Hockey Uttarakhand tried hard to make a come back but could only score a single goal as Mamta Bhatt found the back of the net in the 48th minute to end the match at 3-1. In Pool C, Delhi Hockey and Bengal Hockey Association played out a 3-3 draw which saw Delhi Hockey take a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute of the match through Sonali. Both the teams produced some brilliant attacking moves and managed to score from their goal-scoring opportunities but could not put up a good defensive display as the match ended with a score line of 3-3. Goals for Delhi Hockey were scored by Sonali (8', 52') and Aarti (34') while Puja Bag (41', 59') and Ritu Ari (18') scored for Bengal Hockey Association.