Rourkela (Odisha) [India], May 4 : The stage is set for aspiring young hockey players across India to compete in the prestigious 13th Hockey India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2023 which is set to begin in Rourkela, Odisha on Thursday.
A total of 28 teams will vie for top honours in the 11-day tournament with the competition's final to be played on May 14, 2023. All the matches will be played at the world-class Birsa Munda Hockey stadium.
The participating teams are divided into eight pools. Teams in Pool A are Hockey Haryana, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu and Tripura Hockey, while Pool B features Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Bengal, and Hockey Uttrakhand. Pool C consists of Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Chhattisgarh Hockey, and Delhi Hockey, while Pool D consists of Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Assam Hockey, and Hockey Himachal.
Hockey Mizoram, Hockey Association of Odisha, Kerala Hockey, and Hockey Rajasthan have been slotted in Pool E, while Hockey Punjab, Mpur Hockey, Gujarat Hockey, and Hockey Andhra Pradesh have been included in Pool F. In Pool G, Hockey Chandigarh, Hockey Bihar, Telangana Hockey, and Goans Hockey are grouped together, while in Pool H, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Karnataka, Le Puducherry Hockey, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey will battle it out.
Speaking about their chances of defending the title, Hockey Haryana's Coach Azad Singh Malik said, "We recently had a training camp where we worked on our defence, attack, set-play and other aspects of our game. Hence, we are aiming to put up a good show in the tournament and, yes, we are confident of defending our title this time as well."
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Hockey's Coach Jitendra Singh Bhadauria talked about his team's preparation and said, "We are well prepared for the Sub Junior Women National Championship and are hoping to finish as winners or at least runners-up in the tournament."
Notably, after seven days of pool matches, the Quarter-Finals will take place on May 11 2023, while the Semi-Finals will be played on May 13 2023. The Medal matches are scheduled for May 14 2022.
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