TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Despite not having a proper ground to train, the Goa State Junior Girls team did Goa proud with an impressive 1-0 win against highly rated and strong contenders Madhya Pradesh in their second and final fixture of the Indian Hockey Federation’s Junior (U-15) Girls’ Hockey Nationals.
The lone goal was scored in the 15th minute of the second half by Goa captain Apeksha Karapurkar, who played a stellar performance for the Goan side.
Speaking from Sirhind, Punjab, the Goa coach Eliter Fernandes said that the MP team came strongly at the Goans, but Goa goalkeeper Wichita Francis stood rock solid under the bar. He disclosed that vice-captain Priya Kambli, Simone Fernandes and Bonifilia D’Souza kept up the pressure on the opponents.
This is a historic win for Goa, which has never won a match in the girls category at the Nationals, says an Association for Control of Hockey in Goa (ACHG) press note.
The team was sent by the Association for Control of Hockey in Goa in collaboration with the Sports Authority of Goa.
This was a remarkable comeback for the Goa team which lost to the host team from Punjab in their first outing yesterday 17-0. The Goa team will be leaving back for Goa on Tuesday, September 17.
The victory has come as a sounding board for the authorities to seriously plan for a decent hockey turf in the State. Goan hockey deserve a proper ground and better funding, so that Goa can emerge as one of the top hockey playing states in the country. Goans have been in the forefront of the national squad in yesteryears. It is not a secret that the ACHG executive committee members have themselves been digging from their pockets in order to fund the coaching of the various teams.
