Cuttack: Odisha thrashed Kerala 6-1 to enter the final of the Sub-Junior Girls’ national football championships here at the Barabati Stadium, Tuesday. They will face Manipur in the summit clash, Thursday.
Odisha started in whirlwind fashion and took the lead in the seventh minute through Malati Munda. However, Kerala restored parity through P Malavika 12 minutes later.
It is then the floodgates opened as the hosts went on a scoring spree. Manisha Naik made it 2-1 for Odisha in the 37th minute and followed it up with her second seven minutes later to make it 3-1 at the break.
The scenario didn’t change in the second half as Odisha continued their domination. They scored three more goals in a four-minute span. Jyoti Kumari, who has been Odisha’s highest scorer in the tournament so far with 10 goals, added another to her name in the 61st minute. Malati then made it 5-1 three minutes later and Jyoti completed the rout in the next minute with her second strike of the game.
Meanwhile, in the other semifinal played at Ravenshaw University ground, Manipur scraped past Himachal Pradesh 3-2. S Lynda Kom (41st, 74th) and Hemam Shilky Devi (90+1) scored for Manipur while for Himachal Pradesh, skipper Anju (67th, 75th) scored both the goals.
Shooting meet
The VIIth State Shooting Championships be organised at the Kalinga Stadium Shooting Complex and Utkal Karate School here, July 26-29.
A total of 149 participants, including 121 shooters who were grabbed their qualification berths in the Pre State Shooting Championships which was conducted July 5-8, while the remaining 28 participants are national level shooters.