Punjab women storm into quarterfinals

SONEPAT: Punjab, Karnataka and Jharkhand cruised into the quarterfinals of the inaugural Hockey India senior women's national championship with easy wins over their respective pool rivals at Motilal Nehru Sports School on Tuesday.
Striker Ramandeep scored as many as nine goals, including a double hat trick, to help Punjab trounce Tripura 20-0 in a Pool D match.Apart from Ramandeep, Vartika Singh, Kirandeep Kaur and Baljinder scored three goals each for Punjab while Harmanjit and Manbir completed the tally with goal apiece against a hapless Tripura side.
In Pool B, Karnataka thrashed Jammu & Kashmir 17-0 with Ponnamma finding the target six times, including three penalty corner conversions and a penalty stroke.
The other goal scorers for Karnataka were Saira Banu (3), Rakshitha, Laxmi and Kulsumbi (2 each) and Muthamma and Harinakshi (1 each). Jharkhand, meanwhile, routed Kerala 12-0 to move into the last eight round from Pool E.
Sarika, Sabna, Shilwani, Renuka and Anima (2 each) and Nikki and Punita (1 each) were the goal scorers for Jharkhand. In other matches of the day, Andhra Pradesh beat Uttarakhand 3-0 while Maharashtra defeated Rajasthan and Delhi outclassed Tamil Nadu by an identical 4-1 margin.
Punjab will face Karnataka in the quarterfinals on Thursday after a rest day tomorrow while Jharkhand will be up against Orissa.
Railways will play Uttar Pradesh while Haryana will square off against Madhya Pradesh Sports and Youth Welfare in the other quarterfinal matches.