Cuttack: Manisha Naik scored her second hat-trick of the tournament as Odisha hammered Chandigarh 9-0 to cruise into the semifinals and set up a date with Kerala in the Sub-Junior Girls’ National Football Championship here at Barabati Stadium, Sunday.
The Chandigarh eves were no match against Odisha as the hosts went 5-0 up in the first half. Skipper Sunita Hembram opened the scoring spree by converting in the second minute before Manisha doubled the lead four minutes later.
Subhasmita Subhadarsini Das made it 3-0 in the 24 minute while Manisha added her second of the match in the 35th minute. Jyoti Kumari who has been in rousing form throughout the tournament so far made it 5-0 as the teams went into the breather.
However, after the change of ends, Odisha continued their dominance scoring twice in quick succession. Manisha completed her hat-trick in the 55th minute while Jyoti added her second of the match two minutes later to take her tournament tally to 10. Odisha made it 8-0 through an own goal by Antrika while the final goal was scored by substitute Barsha Mahakud in the 71st minute.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Kerala defeated Maharashtra 5-4 in a nail-biting encounter. Manipur defeated Jharkhand 5-1 and will face Himachal Pradesh who defeated Uttar Pradesh 7-0.
Bhubaneswar players shine
Bijaylaxmi Barik of Bhubaneswar emerged joint winner with KM Shrija of Chennai while the Bhubaneswar U-14 girls’ team clinched the crown in chess event of the KVS National Sports Meet here at KIIT University campus, Sunday. Both Bijaylaxmi and Shrija finished on eight points each. However, the U-19 Bhubaneswar boys’ team couldn’t replicate what their juniors did and finished third.
In the yoga event, the U-17 girls’ team claimed the title while Padmashree Mohanty of Bhubaneswar finished runner-up in the U-19 girl’s individual category.
On the other hand, Bhubaneswar U-19 boys’ Kho Kho team finished with a bronze medal after defeating Ranchi in the third-position match.