PANAJI
Hockey India’s 12th Sub-Junior National Hockey Championship begins on May 4, at Peddem Sports Complex, Peddem, Mapusa. Eight days of pool matches will be followed by the quarterfinals on May 12, the semifinals on May 14, and the final and third-place match on May 15.
Twenty-nine teams will battle in the championship. Last year’s champions, Jharkhand are pooled together in group A with Hockey Gujarat and Hockey Uttarakhand. The defending champions won the title defeating Haryana 3-1 in the shootout.
The teams are divided into eight pools with Pool B featuring Hockey Haryana, Hockey Karnataka and Chhattisgarh Hockey whereas Pool C consists of Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu and Hockey Bengal while Manipur Hockey, Hockey Rajasthan, Hockey Himachal and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Hockey are grouped together in Pool D.
Hockey Association of Odisha, Hockey Andhra Pradesh, Kerala Hockey and Hockey Mizoram are in Pool E, while Hockey Punjab, Delhi Hockey, Le Puducherry Hockey and Goans Hockey have been slotted in Pool F. The teams in Pool G are Hockey Bihar, Hockey Arunachal, Telangana Hockey and Hockey Jammu and Kashmir, while Pool H features Hockey Chandigarh, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Madhya Pradesh and Assam Hockey.
“We are very proud that the Sub Junior Hockey Nationals are going to be held in Goa for the first time. We are extremely happy to host the young talent, the future of Indian Hockey here in Goa,” said Xavier Marquis, President Goans Hockey.
All the matches will be played at the newly laid hockey turf at the Peddem Sports Complex in Mapusa.
