Nothing is more sweetening than the today’s announcement of Women’s Hockey League for Under-21 girls in India. Despite equally (if not more) performing on international arena as that of their men’s counterparts, Indian women don’t get matching and adequate attention from the trustees of the sport, Hockey India. Women hockey in India survived due to the solid support extended by two government arms, Sports Authority of India and Indian Railways. The former funds its elite programs besides scouting and training talents, while the latter is the sole provider of permanent jobs (90%). Hockey India does conduct National Championships but hardly does it go beyond. Hardly does it bid any big ticket Asia or FIH tournaments for women, to quote a point, while it goes bullish for men. Successful bidding of successive Jr and Sr World Cups is a point to note.

It is in this context that reliable promoter of women’s hockey in India, the Government of India has come out again to lift it to the next level.

Sports Authority of India in association with Hockey India today announced the first edition of the Khelo India Women’s Hockey League (Under 21).

This will do a world of good for the development of Women’s hockey at domestic level. There is paucity of tournaments for girls. They need platform for showcasing their game which has been increasingly less over decades. This league, though in brief spells, fills up the vacuum to a large extent.

The proposed league will be held at three different venues across the country in three phases between March – November 2020.
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Phase 1 will be held from March 23 to 29, 2020 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, Phase 2 will be held from July 13 to 19, 2020 at the SAI Center in Bengaluru, and Phase 3 from November 22 to 29, 2020 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Speaking about the first-of-its-kind initiative, Shri. Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports said, “The effort of the Government is to create talent identification platforms for athletes from multiple sports through the Khelo India Scheme. In women’s hockey, the number of national-level competitions currently being held in India are limited and therefore we felt the need to create this league so that more talent could be identified in the U-21 category. I am sure this league will bring forth many talented hockey players.”

A total of 14 teams will take part in the first season of the League, with the participation of teams being accepted on a first come, first serve basis, subject to confirmation of acceptance of the relevant terms of participation. These 14 teams will be divided into two Pools of seven teams each for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the League, which shall follow a round-robin format, with each team playing a total of six matches each in both the Phases.

Phase 3 will consist of classification matches based on the rankings of teams after the conclusion of the first two Phases. A Final match will also be held to determine the Champions.

The League will be played by various academies registered under Hockey India and Public Sector Units’ teams, as per the latest FIH Outdoor Regulations and FIH Rules of Hockey, and by players born on or after 01 January 2000, with each of the 14 teams consisting of 18 players and 4 support staff (Head Coach, Team Manager, Medical Doctor and Physiotherapist).

Pic: Indian girls won Silver at the recent Asian Games where men got bronze