The final phase of the inaugural National Women’s Hockey League 2024-25 commenced Tuesday at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
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 represent Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Mizoram, Manipur, and 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, Haryana finished first with 16 points in seven matches, followed by Jharkhand and Odisha, just one point behind in second and third place, respectively.
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey stated, “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.”
The opening match is set to be played between Haryana and Manipur on Tuesday at 7:00 am IST, followed by clashes between Odisha and West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra at 9:00 am and 11:00 am, respectively. The last match of the day will see Jharkhand face Mizoram at 06:30 pm IST.
