Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Railways win on Day 1 of Senior Women's NFC for Rajmata Jijabai Trophy

New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) Tamil Nadu, Bengal, and Railways began the Final Round of the 28th Senior Women's National Football Championship for Rajmata Jijabai Trophy 2023-24, with victories against Delhi, Punjab, and Chandigarh, respectively, in Kolkata on Wednesday. 

It’s early days in the championship, but hosts Bengal have taken the top spot in Group A for now, by dint of a better goal difference. They are followed by Tamil Nadu and Railways, reports AIFF.

Hosts Bengal produced a dominant performance at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan on Wednesday, as Rimpa Haldar scored a hat-trick to help her side complete a 7-1 rout against Punjab.

Mousumi Murmu opened the scoring in the second minute, as she ran onto a through ball by Haldar, and slotted it into the net. The latter soon turned to scoring, when she dribbled past her marker and beat the opposition keeper to double the lead. She showed a lot of desire to snatch the ball from a Punjab defender before rushing into the box to beat Punjab keeper Jyoti once again.

Haldar completed her hat-trick in the 51st minute, when she curled one from the edge of the penalty box. Harmilan Kaur pulled one back for Punjab a little after the hour mark, but Bengal were well in control of the proceedings by then.

Poonan Sharma (69’), and substitutes Sulanjana Raul (83’) and Dular Marandi (90+7’) added three more to complete a big win for the hosts.

Defending champions Tamil Nadu began their Final Rounds campaign with a convincing win against Delhi, as midfielder Karthika Angamuthu netted a brace at the AIFF National Centre of Excellence.

Tamil Nadu remained well in control of the game, and forward Sandhiya opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, Karthika Angamuthu doubling the lead four minutes later. The latter was on target again, deep in injury time of the second half, as Tamil Nadu ran away with a 3-0 victory.

Last season’s semifinalists, Railways earned a 3-0 victory against Chandigarh at the AIFF NCE, making it a three-way race for the top two spots in Group A, for now.

Naobi Chanu (40’) and Anju Tamang (57’) scored on both sides of the half-time break, before veteran midfielder Kamala Devi added a third in the 78th minute, to earn the three points for the 2015-16 champions. 

--IANS 

cs/