The girls’ hockey team of Jharkhand became runners-up in the 12th Hockey India junior national women’s hockey championship that concluded in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

The girls’ team from Haryana became the champion after they defeated the Jharkhand team by 3-0 in the final match.

“Our girls played very well though they couldn’t score today,” Hockey Jharkhand vice-president Manoj Konbegi said about their team’s performance on Sunday, adding they would rather rejoice that the junior girls of the state continued to win medals in the national tourney without any break since 2013.

The team defeated Maharashtra by 1-0 in the semifinal on Saturday, making it to the final for the fifth year in a row, he reminded, adding the girls’ team had also became national champion in two successive years, 2018 and 2019.

Till Saturday, Jharkhand girls scored 28 goals by defeating Assam 9-0, Manipur 14-0, Uttar Pradesh 4-0 and Maharashtra 1-0 in the semifinal. But they conceded, for the first in the tournament that began on March 25, three goals when they lost the final match against ace rival Haryana 0-3.

The girls would perhaps perform better if they had with them Beauty Dungdung who is currently representing the country in junior women’s hockey world cup in South Africa, felt some hockey enthusiasts while some others countered their argument saying Haryana may also have such talented players who couldn’t represent their state this year.