Ranchi, March 17 : The final phase of the inaugural National Women's Hockey League 2024-25, is set to commence on March 18 at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi. The U-21 Women's tournament will see eight of the top state teams of the country compete for the title in a round-robin league format from March 18 to 28.

The teams participating are Hockey Haryana, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Bengal, Hockey Mizoram, Manipur Hockey, and Hockey Association of Odisha.

The tournament will be played in a single pool with each team facing the other once. The winner of each match will be awarded three points, while draws will secure a single point. The team standing on top of the points table at the end of the league matches will be crowned champions of the elite domestic tournament.

In Phase 1, played last year, Hockey Haryana finished first with 16 points in seven matches, followed by Hockey Jharkhand and Hockey Association of Odisha, just one point behind in second and third place, respectively.

Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey stated, "We are excited to see the young players compete at such a high level. It is crucial to have youngsters compete in domestic tournaments all around the year for their growth. I wish all the players and coaches all the best and hope we get to see some great matches and rising talents in the ranks. We recently saw a brilliant level of hockey being played in the Senior Women National Championship and I am expecting to see that from the junior players as well.'

Echoing the same sentiment, Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh stated, "It will be interesting to see which team wins the first-ever National Women's Hockey League tournament. In such league tournaments, consistency is very important and the team that can play well in all of their seven matches is likely to emerge victorious. All the very best to the teams participating, I urge everyone to give it their best on the field.'

The opening match is set to be played between Hockey Haryana and Manipur Hockey on March 18, followed by clashes between Hockey Association of Odisha and Hockey Bengal and Hockey Madhya Pradesh and Hockey Maharashtra.

The last match of the day will see Hockey Jharkhand face Hockey Mizoram at 06:30 PM IST.

/IANS