New Delhi: India Juniors team defeated Odisha Tata Naval Hockey High-Performance Centre (HHPC) by a whopping 8-1 in the Group A match of the Khelo India U-21 Women’s Hockey League 2021 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi, on Monday.
India Juniors dominated the match while Odisha committed unforced errors and corners. Deepika Thakur of Juniors scored a hattrick, whereas her counterpart Mumtaz Khan scored two goals for the team.
Team Odisha scored their first goal in the last minutes of the first half.
The second half was intense as the Juniors fired 3 more shots and swept the match in their favour. Meanwhile, the team also defeated Mumbai School Sports Association by 12-0 on Tuesday.
Phase I of the U-21 Women’s Hockey league ended on Tuesday. India Juniors won all matches so far, and witnessed Deepika as a top scorer with 7 penalty corners, 6 field goals, and 3 penalty strokes throughout the event.
India Juniors Hockey team is preparing for the World Cup slated to occur next year.
Talking about the World Cup, Deepika said on Tuesday, “The World Cup is coming, and we have to prepare for it. If it doesn’t take place due to the Covid situation, we will focus on the second phase of the tournament. The coaches have pointed a few drawbacks in our game, and we would like to address and work on that.”
(Avya Mathur)