Women's Hockey: Gurjit Kaur’s last minute goal helps India beat Great Britain 2-1
Marlow (England), Sep 28: Gurjit Kaur's brilliant goal in the dying moments of the game helped the Indian women's hockey team come from behind and register 2-1 victory over Great Britain.
In a highly attritional first quarter of the opening match of the five-game series, neither of the teams managed to break the deadlock on Friday. Despite attacking efforts from both sides, it was the two defenses that stood out, holding fort to ensure the scoreboard was untouched at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Indian eves took control of the game and won a couple of penalty corners in the opening minutes forcing smart saves from Maddie Hinch. Soon enough it was Great Britain's turn but India's goalkeeper Savita pulled off a smart save to deny their opponents an opener. The two teams went into half-time locked in a goalless stalemate.
India controlled the action in the third quarter, but despite multiple circle penetrations, Great Britain''s defence held strong to deny an opener.
Great Britain broke through first in the final quarter with Emily Defrond scoring in the 46th minute to give them the lead. Despite going down India kept up the pressure and soon reaped the dividends, with Sharmila Devi carrying out a superb goal to level the scores.
With 48 seconds of the game to play, India won a penalty corner and this time Gurjit slotted the ball home to seal the match for the team and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The second match of the series will be played on Sunday.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
