Western Railway Surja Latha (white) strikes the ball past Central Railway defender Manju Phalswal (blue). Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Dec. 15: The third day of the 26th All-India Railway Women?s Hockey Championship provided a bit of quality hockey at the Morabadi based astro turf stadium.

The day?s best hockey was seen in the third match between two Mumbai-based teams, Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR). Western Railway won 4-2.

The WR girls, led by Surja Latha and Mamta Kharab, met with stiff resistance in the first half, which ended at one goal each.

Mamta Kharab had given an early lead and in the third minute she converted a penalty corner.

The leveller came through another penalty corner conversion, but this time from Jharkhand player Kanti Ba, who works for Central Railway. But the WR girls dominated the second half and scored three more goals.

Jyoti Dodari converted a penalty corner for her team?s second goal in the 49th minute. A minute later, Sanggai Ibemaha, who had been running from the right flank, did not miss her chance.

Two minutes later, Binita Toppo converted the third of the three consecutive penalty corners to her team?s fourth goal.

As the Central girls looked down and out, the rejuvenating goal came five minutes from the final whistle when Mukta Guria tapped in a deflection. For the last four minutes, the Central girls resumed their fight but it was too late.

The preceding match too was well contested as the star-studded South Eastern Railway team, which won the match 2-1, were made to work hard by the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapoorthala.

The RCF shot into the lead in the 27th minute through a goal by Renubala. The SER equaliser came two minutes later through penalty corner conversion by Subhadra Pradhan. The SER got their winning goal when Sonika Yadav converted another penalty corner.