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Final phase of National Women's Hockey League 2024-25 to kickstart from March 18

ANI March 17, 2025 94 views

The inaugural National Women's Hockey League U-21 tournament is set to begin in Ranchi, featuring eight top state teams competing in a round-robin format. Hockey Haryana enters as the top team from the previous phase, looking to maintain their strong performance. The tournament will be played at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Hockey Stadium from March 18 to March 28. Hockey India leadership hopes the tournament will showcase emerging talent and provide crucial competitive experience for young players.

"It is crucial to have youngsters compete in domestic tournaments all around the year for their growth." - Dilip Tirkey, Hockey India President
Ranchi, March 17: The final phase of the inaugural National Women's Hockey League 2024-25 is set to commence on March 18 at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand, as per the Hockey India press release.

Key Points

1

Eight state teams battle in round-robin format for U-21 hockey championship

2

Hockey Haryana enters as top performers from previous phase

3

Tournament runs from March 18-28 in Ranchi

The U-21 Women's tournament will see eight of the top state teams of the country compete for the title in a round-robin league format from March 18 to March 28.

The teams participating are Hockey Haryana, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Bengal, Hockey Mizoram, Manipur Hockey, and Hockey Association of Odisha.

The tournament will be played in a single pool with each team facing the other once. The winner of each match will be awarded three points, while draws will secure a single point. The team standing on top of the points table at the end of the league matches will be crowned champions of the elite domestic tournament.

In Phase 1, played last year, Hockey Haryana finished first with 16 points in seven matches, followed by Hockey Jharkhand and Hockey Association of Odisha, just one point behind in second and third place, respectively.

Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey stated as quoted by Hockey India press release, "We are excited to see the young players compete at such a high level. It is crucial to have youngsters compete in domestic tournaments all around the year for their growth. I wish all the players and coaches all the best and hope we get to see some great matches and rising talents in the ranks. We recently saw a brilliant level of hockey being played in the Senior Women National Championship and I am expecting to see that from the junior players as well."

Echoing the same sentiment, Hockey India Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh stated, "It will be interesting to see which team wins the first-ever National Women's Hockey League tournament. In such league tournaments, consistency is very important and the team that can play well in all of their seven matches is likely to emerge victorious. All the very best to the teams participating, I urge everyone to give it their best on the field."

The opening match is set to be played between Hockey Haryana and Manipur Hockey on March 18 at 7:00 AM IST, followed by clashes between Hockey Association of Odisha and Hockey Bengal and Hockey Madhya Pradesh and Hockey Maharashtra at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM, respectively. The last match of the day will see Hockey Jharkhand face Hockey Mizoram at 06:30 PM IST.

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