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Mumbai, June 23: Riding on Aishwarya Ashutosh’s twin strikes, United Poona SA, Pune managed to record a narrow 3-2 win against Poddar International, Kolhapur in the opening Group-A league match of the WIFA Women’s Football Championship, which is being conducted as part of the FIFA-AIFF State Development Project, at the Cooperage ground on Friday. Dhanashree Sunil got the other goal for the Pune side, while Yashashree Pramod and Jyoti Shivaji scored a goal each in the second half for the Kolhapur team.
The Pune outfit wrested the initiative when Aishwarya hit the target in the very ninth minute to give her team a 1-0 half-time lead.
After switching ends, Poddar International fought hard and did well to find the equalizer through Yashree Pramod in the 35th minut60-minuteencounter. But, the Pune side who were creating the better chances struck two quick goals through Dhanashree Sunil
(41st minute) and Aishwarya Ashutosh (45th minute) to take control of the match. Not prepared to give up Poddar International continued to work hard and tried their best to break down the rival defence but they could only manage one more goal with Jyoti Shivaji scoring in the 57th minute.
Results – Group-A: United Poona SA 3 (Aishwarya Ashutosh 9, 45, Dhanashree Sunil 41) beat Poddar International, Kolhapur 2 (Yashashree Pramod 35, Jyoti Shivaji 57).
