Pune: Host’s Maharashtra qualified for the knock-out stage in both age-groups of the Pune Football Club 58th National School Football Under-17,19 Girls Championship 2012-13, organised by Directorate of Sports and Youth Services, Pune, Maharashtra and Zilla Krida Parishad, at Balewadi Sports Complex, on Thursday.
Maharashtra Under-17s topped Group-A, despite losing their last league game to defending champions Nagaland 0-2. As a result, the group ended in a three-way tie with Goa being the other team. However, a better goal average by the hosts (+2) as compared to Nagaland (+1) ensured that they qualified for the quarterfinals.
Nagaland, who faced a must win situation to advance made it to the prequarterfinals as runners-up of the group. As per the draw group toppers of Group-A, B, C and D earn a ‘bye’ into the last-8.
Meanwhile, the State Under-19 team finished runners-up in Group-D and entered the quarterfinals.
While the day belonged to teams pushing every bit to force a result and qualify, the Under-17 Group-C match between Haryana and Chandigarh turned in the best individual effort.
At the Pune FC Training Pitch, Mamurdi, Haryana’s Sanju netted 10 goals to spearhead her team to a 14-0 victory over Chandigarh. Haryana topped the group and Sanju has so far emerged the top-scorer in the tournament with 11 goals, after her feat stands out in both age-groups.
Meanwhile, the four Under-17 teams who topped and earned a berth in the quarterfinals are: Maharashtra (Group-A), Bihar (Group-B), Jharkhand (Group-C) and Manipur (Group-D). All teams earned a ‘bye’ in the pre-quarterfinals.
On the other hand, Nagaland (Group-A), Delhi (Group-B), Haryana (Group-C), Madhya Pradesh (Group-D), who finished runners up respectively joined Assam and Mizoram (Group-E) and Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh (Group-F) in the prequarterfinals and will fight it out for four last-8 places on Friday.
Similarly, in the Under-19 section, Goa (Group-A), Tamil Nadu (Group-B), West Bengal (Group-C) and Odisha (Group-D) made the last-8. Those moving into the pre-quarterfinals were, Gujarat (Group-A), Madhya Pradesh (Group-B), Uttrakhand (Group-C), Maharashtra (Group-D), who finished runners up respectively and joined Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (Group-E) and Haryana and Chhattisgarh (Group-F).
RESULTS
UNDER-17:
Group-A: Nagaland: 2 (R.Seb Rengma, Neilhutuo) bt Maharashtra: 0
Group-B: Bihar: 4 (Tara Khatdon 3, Archana Kumari) bt Karnataka: 0
Group-C: Haryana: 14 (Sanju 10, Jyoti 2, Neha, Komal) bt Chandigarh: 0
Group-D: Manipur: 4 (Ratanbala, Ranjana, Ranjibala, Sumila) bt Gujarat: 0
Group-E: Assam: 2 (Dorthi Oreya, Mridvlamcii) bt Mizoram: 0
Group-F: Tamil Nadu: 3 (S Dharanya, R Sandhiya, N Amsavalli) bt Chhattisgarh: 1 (Vandana)
Punjab: 9 (Sandeep Kaur 2, Sukwant Kaur 2, Supreet Kaur 2, Lovpreet Kaur, Beant Kaur, Amarjj Kaur) bt Dadra & Nagar Haveli: 0
UNDER-19:
Group-A: Gujarat: 1 bt Karnataka: 0
Group-B: Madhya Pradesh: 5 (Bhawana Dangar 2, Hemlata Urwedi, Sapnq Sarwan, Nisha Bals) bt CBSC: 0
Group-C: Uttrakhand: 3 (Megha Kashyap 2, Raksha Pawar) bt IPSC: 0
Group-D: Odisha: 3 (Sunita Sahoo 2, Jtishree Sardai) bt Delhi: 1 (Somaya)
Group-E: Jharkhand: 7 bt Chandigarh: 0
Group-F: Chhattisgarh: 1 (Jyoti Jagat) bt Punjab: 0
Haryana: 6 (Manisha Kumari 3, Laxmi Devi, Sunita, Nirmala) bt Andhra Pradesh: 0