Jubilant OTHL team in a mood to celebrate with the Cup
Silve for our OTHL Juniors at the Delhi State Women's Hockey Championship
31/03/2025
Led by ebullient midfielder Neha, One Thousand Hockey Legs XI (OTHL XI) won Silver in the prestigious Delhi State Women's Hockey Championship 2025. The NGO team beat local outfit Kheda Kalan XI in the semifinal in shoot out before going down to a superior team in the final.
United Hockey Club, another local unit, had beaten the OTHL XI comprehensively 4-1 in the final. However, the Silver is a big feat for the OTHL XI, which runs women's hockey team only in the last four years.
As the academic year comes to an end, the last of the local tournaments - age group State Championships- came to conclusion today at Kheda Kalan Hockey Centre, Kheda Kalan, northern suburb of New Delhi.
OTHL XI led by almost babe of the team Neha of Govt. Co-Ed Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Dwarka, surprised the established team with energy and enterprise.
Neha's team started their campaign with an easy win over Bagner XI. Though the team conceded an early goal and struggled till the half time, superior fitness and better co-ordination between midfield and forward, which was lacking till then, saw them scoring four times with tightly protecting their own citadel.
The win pitched them over local outfit Kheda Kalan in the semifinal. It was a tough match but a last minute, nay last second, goal from Geeta ensured the team will settle the winner issue over shoot out.
Captain Neha is in control of things
It was here the experience of seasoned goalkeeper in the ranks Shabnam -- who had earlier won Gold at the same edition a couple of years ago - came on her own. The first set of five goals saw both teams stand at 3-3. It was 4-4 in the sudden death before Shabnam made another save which stunned the local team.
The girls, who finished third in the last year are now in the finals!
owever, despite not conceding any goal in the first and third quarters, the experienced rival could place the ball twice in the remaining two quarters.
Another youngster in the team Payal of Govt Co-Ed SBV, Dakhshinpuri managed to pull one to the team's glee.
Dronacharya award winning coach Narinder Singh Saini expressed happiness at the team winning silver within a year of him taking over the reins of coaching.
"This team has huge potential. They can scale better if they would keep the same fighting spirit they showcased today. I have no doubt why can't they".
This summed up the mood in the minds of all those who assembled to witness these kids play superb hockey.
the victors
The Silver winning OTHL XI team
Shabnam (GK)
Sanjana (GK)
Mofida Ali (defender)
Karishma (defender)
Moslima(defender)
Ritiaka (centre-half)
Neha (Captain, left-half)
Tanya (right-half)
Kashish (midfielder)
Geeta (forward)
Jyoti (Forward)
Laxmi Kumari (forward)
Nainsi (forward)
Gitika (Forward)
Prachi (forward)
Suchitra (Midfielder)
Payal (Forward)