Ranchi, March 31 A total of 29 teams will compete across three divisions when the 16th Hockey India Sub Junior Women's National Championship begins here with five matches on Wednesday.
The tournament will run until April 12, and the participating teams will compete in Divisions 'A', 'B', and 'C', in a promotion and relegation format introduced last year.
While teams in Division 'A' will vie for the championship title, the top two teams from Divisions 'B' and 'C' will earn promotion. The bottom two teams in Divisions 'A' and 'B' will face relegation for the next edition.
Division 'A' features 12 teams divided into four pools, with the knockout stages scheduled from April 9, culminating in the Final on April 12.
The host team, Hockey Jharkhand, headlines Pool A and will be joined by Bihar (BSSA) and Maharashtra.
Pool B includes Odisha, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh. In Pool C, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Manipur will compete, while Pool D comprises Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, and Chhattisgarh.
Division 'B' will follow a league format from April 1 to 6, with teams split into two pools. Pool A features Delhi, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu, along with Tamil Nadu, Bengal, and Assam.
Pool B includes Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.
Division 'C' will also be played in a league format from April 1 to 4.
Pool A consists of Kerala, Telangana, and Goa, while Pool B includes Jammu & Kashmir, Puducherry, Rajasthan, and Tripura.
Matches will be held at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astroturf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi.
Across all divisions, teams will earn three points for a win, and one point for a draw. In Division 'A', tied knockout matches will be decided via shoot-outs, as per FIH regulations.
The opening day of the tournament will see Jammu & Kashmir taking on Puducherry at 6am, followed by the match between Delhi and Hockey at 7:45 am.
The third match of the day will be played between Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, and Assam at 9:30am, while Chandigarh will take on Karnataka at 2:45pm in the fourth match.
In the last game of the day, Hockey Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh will compete at 4:30pm.