Punjab girls go down in football semifinal against Jharkhand

Hosts Punjab waged a spirited battle against Jharkhand before losing 2-0 in the football semifinal (girls U-19) on the penultimate day of the 67th National School Games being held in three sports disciplines. The meet is being organised by the Punjab Education Department under the aegis of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at four venues here.

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In football, in the second semifinal, which was held at the Punjab Agricultural University ground, West Bengal edged out Maharashtra 2-1 to set up a title clash with Jharkhand. Earlier, in the quarters. West Bengal had beat Kerala 1-0, Maharashtra had prevailed over Madhya Pradesh 3-1, Punjab had defeated Uttar Pradesh 6-5 in a tie-breaker and Jharkhand had beat Gujarat 3-0 to qualify for the semifinal.

Meanwhile, in judo, Punjab, Delhi and Kendriya Vidyalaya snagged one gold medal each. In the boys’ U-17 category (below 60 kg), Parav Kumar of Punjab beat Thibi Meetei of Manipur to clinch a gold medal, and Tanish Tokas of Delhi defeated Pruthviraj Shivaji of Maharashtra to bag a bronze medal. In the below-90-kg weight category, Harshit of Kendriya Vidyalaya outperformed Vipul Saini from Rajasthan to clinch a gold medal, and Kartik Bhardwaj of Delhi outwitted Rishav Swaran of Bihar to finish in third place.

In the girls’ U-17 section (below 36 kg), Kritika Baisoya of Delhi proved too good for Ellandula Akshitha of Telangana and won a gold medal, while Hembati Nag of Chhattisgarh pipped Taniya Rathor of Rajasthan to take home a bronze medal.

In karate (girls’ U-19), Payal of Haryana defeated Tamil Nadu’s Oviya Sri in the under-56-kg weight section to secure a gold medal, while Jaspreet Kaur of Punjab and Nancy Sodhi of Gujarat were tied at the third spot.

In the under-68-kg weight category, Khushi Jadaun of Punjab outperformed Antonia Kalara of Karnataka to secure a gold medal, and Nikita of Punjab secured a bronze medal.