HI Sub Junior Women National C'ship: Semi-finals set to take place on Saturday
May 20, 2022
Imphal (Manipur) [India], May 20 : Top four teams - Hockey Haryana, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Madhya Pradesh and Hockey Jharkhand will battle it out in the semi-finals of the 12th Hockey India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2022 on Saturday.
The first Semi-Final will witness Hockey Haryana and Hockey Madhya Pradesh square off against each other. The defending champions Hockey Haryana, who will enter the contest after a comfortable 4-1 win against Hockey Mizoram in their Quarter-Final match, will look to keep the momentum going in the Semi-Final to seal a spot in the Final of the tournament.
Speaking ahead of their Semi-Final match against Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Haryana Coach Azad Singh Malik said," We have improved match by match in this tournament, we have good momentum and will look to keep it going in tomorrow's match. We've performed well so far, and we are confident of making it to the Final. The morale is very high amongst the players, we have come here to win and hopefully, we will defend the title."
On the other hand, Hockey Madhya Pradesh won their closely-contested quarter-final match 2-1 against Hockey Maharashtra. Speaking about his team's match-up against the defending champions, Hockey Madhya Pradesh Coach Akash Chaturvedi said, "No doubt, it will be a tough game, but we are prepared for it. We have our plans in place for the match against Hockey Haryana. The players are really excited to play the semi-final match at this level, and they will certainly give their best to win."
In the second semi-final, Hockey Jharkhand will be up against Uttar Pradesh Hockey. Hockey Jharkhand are coming off a comprehensive 5-1 win against Hockey Punjab in the Quarter-Final.
Hockey Jharkhand Coach Subhila Minj, said, "Our team has performed well so far in the tournament. We scored 5 goals against a team like Punjab, so we are very confident of doing well in the Semi-Final against Uttar Pradesh Hockey. We will give our everything to win and as I have said before we would not return empty-handed."
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, that registered a 5-0 win against Hockey Chandigarh in their Quarter-Final match. "It has been a great campaign so far. We have outplayed each and every opponent we have faced so far in the tournament. I must say, it will be a challenging outing for us tomorrow. Hockey Jharkhand are a very strong team, but we will look to execute our plans to win the game," said Uttar Pradesh Hockey Coach Rashid Aziz Khan.
