11th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021 to kickstart on October 20

The 11th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021 will be held from October 20-29 in Simdega, Jharkhand.

A total of 27 teams, including over 500 players as well as coaching and support staff, will take part in the tournament. Jharkhand is all set to host the prestigious tournament, which was postponed earlier due to the COVID-19 situation in India.

Team Jharkhand coach Pratima Barwa expressed his excitement ahead of the commencement of the tournament.

"We are very excited to play in front of our home crowd and the team is looking forward to the tournament. We have prepared well for the tournament, paid a lot of attention to out fitness and we will be taking it one-match-at-a-time," Pratima Barwa said.

Uttar Pradesh Hockey coach Akram Mahmood also spoke about their preparations and contenders ahead of the event.

"I think Hockey Jharkhand and Hockey Haryana will be tough contenders in this tournament. We finished fourth previously and definitely look forward to doing better in this edition. Our preparations have been good and the players are very motivated especially after watching the Indian Women's Team's historic performance in the Olympics, they all want to be like them and want to give their best here so that they can get a place in the junior camp."

Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021 draw:

Pool A: Hockey Jharkhand, Kerala Hockey and Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu.

Pool B: Hockey Haryana, Assam Hockey, Hockey Rajasthan.

Pool C: Hockey Mizoram, Hockey Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Hockey.

Pool D: Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Uttarakhand and Manipur Hockey.

Pool E: Hockey Maharashtra, Delhi Hockey and Hockey Gujarat.

Pool F: Hockey Chandigarh, Hockey Bihar, Goans Hockey, Hockey Jammu & Kashmir.

Pool G: Odisha, Chhattisgarh Hockey, Hockey Himachal, Hockey Madhya Pradesh.

Pool H: Hockey Karnataka, Hockey Punjab, Hockey Bengal and Le Puducherry Hockey.

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