Puducherry emerges champion

                             

Puducherry emerged winner in the South Zone leg of the 21st senior National women’s football championship here on Sunday.

Puducherry won all its matches in the five-team league. Tamil Nadu (three wins and a loss) finished second. Both teams have qualified for the final phase of the National championship.

On the final day, Puducherry registered a 3-0 win over Kerala. Indumathi scored off a free-kick to put Puducherry ahead in the 15th minute.

Kerala pressed hard for the equaliser but a couple of good strikes by Nikhila were kept out by the goalkeeper Vinitha. Puducherry increased the lead in the 51st minute when Indumathi’s shot from outside the penalty area found the target. Pradeepa netted five minutes later to put the match beyond Kerala’s reach.

In another match, Tamil Nadu rode on Vijaya Kumari’s hat-trick to beat Karnataka 3-0.

Tamil Nadu was relentless in its attempts to create scoring opportunities but many of its moves were blunted by the Karnataka defence. Also, a few long-rangers attempted by the Tamil Nadu players did not yield the desired results as the teams went into the break 0-0.

Vijaya Kumari opened the scoring for Tamil Nadu three minutes after the break . She made it 2-0 in the 71st minute with a strike from just inside the box. Vijaya Kumari settled the issue in the 82nd minute when her left-footer found the back of the net.

The results: League: Puducherry 3 (Indumathi 15 & 51, Pradeepa 56) bt Kerala 0; Tamil Nadu 3 (Vijaya Kumari 48, 71 & 82) bt Karnataka 0.

Final standings: 1. Puducherry, 2. Tamil Nadu, 3. Kerala, 4. Karnataka, 5. Telangana.