The district will host 9th Junior National hockey championship for women from January 23 to February 10. Around 800 players belonging to 42 teams will take part in the tournament being held at Kollam for the first time and in the State after a gap of 25 years.
“Matches will be held at the hockey stadium at Asramam, the only astro turf stadium in the State. It will be the second major championship in the stadium after the National Games of 2014,” said V. Sunil Kumar, president, Kerala Hockey, on Tuesday.
Two divisions
Matches will be held in two divisions and each division has been further divided into four pools. Division A has 22 teams and B has 20 teams. Quarterfinal matches of Division B will be held on January 30 and semifinals and final will be held on February 1 and 2 respectively. Similarly, the quarterfinal matches for Division A will be held on February 7, semifinals on 9 and final on 10.
Kerala will contest in Pool D of Division B. Its first match will be held against Telangana at 6 p.m. on January 23.
The other teams in the pool include Sports Authority of Gujarat-Hockey Academy, Gujarat, Tripura and Steel Plant Sports Board. Kerala was the runner-up when the championship was held at the M.G. College stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1978.
Governor P. Sathasivam will inaugurate the championship. Sports Minister E.P. Jayarajan will preside over the function. Suresh Gopi, MP will present the championship report.
