Himachal Pradesh and Odisha booked quarterfinal berths in the Junior Girls' National Football Championships on Tuesday at Kolhapur's Rajarshi Shahu Stadium. They will join Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, who qualified for the last eight on Monday.
Odisha sealed its place with a thumping 13-0 win over Pondicherry in the Group E encounter, with Jyoti Kumari scoring seven times (24', 30, 45', 45+2', 45+3', 65', 69'). Manisha Naik chipped in with a hat-trick (20', 52', 73') while Subhasmita Das (11'), Malati Munda (48') and Salge Majhi (58') added one apiece.
In Group F, Himachal Pradesh moved into the quarterfinals with a 4-0 victory against host Maharashtra. After Maharashtra's first-half penalty was saved by Himachal goalkeeper Manisha, Aarti broke the deadlock in the 79th minute with a header off a corner. The floodgates opened thereafter, with forward Manisha scoring a minute later and Kiran grabbing a brace (85', 90+2').
READ | TN, Jharkhand qualify for quarterfinals
In the second game of Group E, Gujarat and Bihar played the first draw of the competition as the match ended 0-0 after a tense battle.
The stage is set for a cracking final round in Group H after Mizoram and Kerala picked up comfortable wins to set up a winner-takes-all clash on Thursday. Mizoram blanked Andhra Pradesh 7-0, with forward Lalrinmuani grabbing a hattrick (26', 38', 75'), Gladys Zonunsangi scoring twice (37', 45+1') and Ruth Vanlalpeki (46') and Lalnunsiami (87') netting once.
Kerala picked up a 3-0 win over Punjab, thanks to goals from Nandana Krishnan (17'), Malavika P (29') and Arya V. (87').
The fixtures for Wednesday (April 24, 2019)
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