West Bengal lost to 22 times champion Manipur by 3-0 in the semi-finals of 29th Senior Women’s National Football Championship for Rajmata Jijabai Trophy 2024-25 at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground on Saturday.
Dangmei Grace in 53’, Naorem Priyangka Devi in 55’, Hemam Shikly Devi in 78’ scored the goals for Manipur.
Earlier, West Bengal produced a dominant performance to defeat Punjab 6-0 in opening match of Group B. For West Bengal, Rimpa Halder scored five goals (14′, 15′, 56′, 66′, 77′) while Tania Kanti scored one (80’).
West Bengal lost the second match to Railways by 2-1. For West Bengal, Priya Rui Das scored in 24’, while for Railways, Mamta in 49’ and Jabamani Tudu in 78’ scored the goals.
In their third match, West Bengal defeated Sikkim 4-0. Rimpa Halder scored three goals in 35′, 40′, 59′ while Sumitra Marandi scored one in 6′ (P).
In fourth match, West Bengal defeated Haryana 1-0. Sangita Basfore scored the all-important goal in 44′.
Both Haryana and West Bengal, along with Railways, had accumulated nine points each. However, Haryana and West Bengal had a better goal difference when considering only the matches played between these three teams and thus qualified for semi-finals. Haryana topped group while West Bengal finished group runners.
West Bengal had won the tournament twice in 1991-92 and in 1996-97. Finished Runners-up on 13 occasions – 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11
Picture Courtesy: AIFF Media
