Pune outfits, United Poona SA and FC Pune City, will contest the final of the WIFA Women's Football Championship, conducted as part of the FIFA-AIFF State Development Project, at the Cooperage ground here

Mumbai: Pune outfits, United Poona SA and FC Pune City, will contest the final of the WIFA Women's Football Championship, conducted as part of the FIFA-AIFF State Development Project, at the Cooperage ground here. In the semi-finals, United Poona took an early lead to snatch a hard-earned 1-0 win over Aadhar Pratishtan, Mumbai.   FC Pune City got the better of favourites Bodyline FC, Mumbai 8-7 via the sudden death penalty shoot-out after scores were tied at 1-1 at full time and 3-3 after the first set of penalty kicks. United Poona rocked the Pratishtan citadel in the very third minute when their consistent striker Aishwarya Balapure scored from a snap effort against the run of play. Thereafter, the Pune club managed to hang on to their advantage to emerge victors and a place in the summit round. Earlier, Bodyline did well to recover from an early deficit, but flopped in the crucial and tense penalty shoot-out to bow out. FC Pune City took the lead through consistent scorer Pooja More before former junior international Karen Pais scored in the 24th minute to restore parity for Bodyline. In the ensuing tie-breaker, the Pune club successfully converted through Gia Sundaram, Pooja More, Muriel Adam, Aishwarya Gadekar, Senorita Nogngpluh, Nikita Jadhav and Merlyn Adam, while Bodyline could only score through Aditi Shetty, Juhi Shah, Reetika Sahani, Ark D’Silva, Rhea Rodrigues and Valencia D’Mello. PTI