Madhya Pradesh wins 11th Hockey India senior women National Championship

Madhya Pradesh defeated Haryana 1-0 to win the 11th Hockey India senior women National Championship 2021 here in Jhansi on Saturday, while Punjab went past Maharashtra 2-1 to finish third in the competition.

Madhya Pradesh's Kanchan Nidhi Kerketta (9') found the back of the net early in the final against Haryana and thereafter the Madhya Pradesh side kept Haryana at bay throughout the game and walked off as winners of the tournament.

As per the Hockey India release, speaking about their victory, Madhya Pradesh Coach Vandana Uikey said, "It feels really good to win the tournament, especially because we have won the Hockey India Senior Women National Championship for the first time. It was a very close match. The players played very well. We had more ball possession than the other team."

Uikey further spoke about the aspects that impressed her the most about the Madhya Pradesh side in the final and said, "The players played an outstanding game. The fitness level shown by the team in the Final was really good. That was an advantage for us. Our Goalkeeper Deepa Sharma played outstandingly as well. She saved a lot of goals during the match. This tournament was a good experience for the team as well."

Earlier today, Punjab earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Hockey Maharashtra to finish third in the 11th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2021. Captain Reena Rani (44') and Sarabdeep Kaur (50') scored a goal each for the winning side, meanwhile, Priya Dubey (18') scored the only goal for Maharashtra.

( With inputs from ANI )

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