TN, Orissa, Manipur, Haryana, UP enter quaterfinals

Chandigarh, July 14 (UNI) Defending champions Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Haryana qualified for Group I quarter-final league by topping their respective clusters in the third Junior Girls Under-17 National Football Championship here today.

Orissa and Uttar Pradesh made it to Group II quarter-final league, after topping their respective clusters to qualify. Orissa routed Uttaranchal 13-0 in the last Cluster B qualifying round match in the evening session. It was their second successive win and they finished with six points. Priyanka Sahoo (5), Jhele Munda (4), Sraddhajali Sahoo (2) and Gomate Borh (2) were the scorers.

In another match, Tamil Nadu snatched an exciting 2-1 victory over a fighting Goa for their second successive victory in Cluster C. Tamil Nadu were down by an early goal but they scored two goals within a span of two minutes to shatter the hopes of Goa. Malvita Mascarenhas put Goa into the lead with an eighth minute goal.

Tamil Nadu waited for their opportunities and launched counter attack in the 25th minute and restored parity through K Gayatri.

Hardly had the cheers of the Tamil Nadu supporters died down when Tamil Nadu struck again. This time T Vidhyavathy scored the goal which turned out to be the match winner.

Earlier in the morning session, defending champions Manipur and unpretentious Haryana advanced to Group I quarter-final league by topping their respective clusters in the Both recorded their second successive victories and with six points apiece qualified for the second phase of the championship.

Led by international M Bem-Bem, Manipur blasted Madhya Pradesh 20-0. The highlight of the Manipur's easy triumph was a hat-trick by N Chan-Chan Chanu who contributed five goals. She netted in the 3rd, 14th, 28th, 33rd and 38th minutes. Captain Ben-Bem (26th, 41st, 67th, 79th), Binodini Devi (40th, 43rd, 74th), Y Kamla Devi (4th, 23rd, 54th), G Radharani Devi (66th), H Bijeta Devi (75th), N Montesori Chanu (49th), M Mandakini Devi (6th) and T Nungshitombi Devi (42nd) were the other scorers.

Earlier, Manipur had beaten Jammu and Kashmir 17-0. Manipur have yet to concede a goal while they have so far scored 37 goals in two matches.

Haryana blanked babe of the tournament Pondicherry by 10-0 for their second successive triumph in Cluster D. Diksha emerged the star performer by netting four goals (16th, 25th, 34th, 65th minutes).

Meenakshi struck in the 10th and 49th minutes. Preeti (12th, 29th), Monty (59th) and Priyanka (60th) were the other scores for the winners. Pondicherry displayed their talent before bowing out of the tournament winless. Chattisgarh were the third competitors in Cluster. They ended their campaign with one win and one loss.

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