Goals by Paulina Surin and Sadhna Singh enabled Mumbai upset last edition's runners-up Indian Universities 2-0 in the National women's hockey championship in Delhi on Wednesday.
The Mumbai women, who finished fourth in Lucknow in 2003, were a little rusty to begin with but put pressure on their opponents with an early goal.
The University side began in an attacking mode but missed a golden chance in the sixth minute before conceding the first goal when Paulina made full use of a superb pass from Nishi Chauhan in the ninth minute.
The goal saw the Mumbai girls gain in confidence as they came up with more threatening forays. But the scoreboard stayed 1-0 at half-time.
After the break, the Mumbai forwards again troubled the University defence but messed up several chances including nine penalty-corners.
Mumbai's second goal came in the 52nd minute through Sadhna Singh.
Mumbai now take on Chhattisgarh on Friday.
In another key match of the day, Sarvjeet and Jasjeet Kaur scored hat-tricks to help Haryana, bronze medal winners in 2003, thrash Air India 12-0.
This was Haryana's second straight win in Pool A after hammering Karnataka 15-0 on Tuesday.
Both Sarvjeet, who began the rout with a goal in the very first minute, and Jasjeet Kaur scored four goals each with the other goals coming from Kamla Cheema (2) and Kanu Priya (2).
At half-time, Haryana were leading 5-0.
Delhi beat PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab State Union) 2-1 while defending champions Railways made full use of a porous Kerala defence to win 14-0.
