Inaugural Khelo India Womens Hockey League (Under-16) begins

by Rishabh Gupta | Aug 17,2022

August 16, New Delhi:Indian Hockey legend Zafar Iqbal declared the 1st Khelo India Women’s Hockey League (U-16) open at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium in the national capital on Tuesday. The Phase 1 of the tournament, scheduled until August 23, started earlier in the morning.

Also present during the opening ceremony were Smt Ekta Vishnoi, Senior Director, Khelo India, Vineet Kumar, former Indian men’s team hockey player, Asunta Lakra, former Indian women’s team hockey player, Piyush Kumar Dubey, former coach of the Indian men’s hockey team, amongst others.

"It is great to see the kind of enthusiasm our Hon’ble Prime Minister has for sports and today we have so many platforms like the Khelo India scheme, which has made this U-16 tournament possible,” mentioned Iqbal, gold medalist, 1980 Moscow Olympics. “The Commonwealth Games recently showed us that be it in Hockey or Athletics, our girls are capable of defeating any team in the world. You have the skill and stamina and you are the future,” Iqbal added, addressing close to 300 players across the 16 teams participating.

“The U-16 Women’s Hockey League is a good opportunity to shine and it's a great platform to learn also. And like our Hon’ble PM said to our athletes before the CWG, give your best and don’t worry about win or lose.”

The league started with the collaboration between Hockey India and Sports Authority of India to promote Hockey & encourage girls to take up the sports. Its a bridge to provide exposure to girls at sub-junior level. Phase 1 and 2 will happen in round robin format with each team playing every other team once. The Hockey League intends to take place in three phases from August to December with the Winner taking home Rs 15.5 lakhs as the cash price. The Sports Authority of India has allocated Rs 53.72 lakhs for its organisation.

There are sixteen teams representing Hockey Academies participating from all over India which includes two teams from Sports Authority of India marked ‘SAI A’ and ‘SAI B’.

On the first day 8 matches have been played and they have been one sided with one team dominating other leading them to score null against their two digit scoring. The highlight of the day was the first match played between SAI ‘A’ Vs Bhai Behlo Hockey Academy. SAI ‘A’ beating them by 30-0.

Tuesday’s results:

SAI A 30-0 Bhai Behlo Hockey Academy Bhagta

Sports hostel Bhubaneswar 2-1 Ghumanhera Riser’s Academy

Citizen Hockey XI 4-0 Mumbai School Sport Association

Pritam Siwach Hockey Academy, Sonepat 17-0 Smart Hockey Academy, Raipur

SAI B 18-0 Anantpur Hockey Academy

Har Hockey Academy 14-0 Sports Authority of Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 3-0 Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre

Delhi Hockey 0-7 Salute Hockey Academy

Player Rankings

Rankings	Player Name	Teaam	Goal Scored
1	KAJAL	SAI A	10
2	MUTUM PRIYA DEVI	SAI B	7
3	SAKSHI RANA	PRITAM	6
3	TANYA TOPPO	SAI B	6
4	LALPEKSANGBAM	SAI B	5
4	POOJA	HAR	5
4	SHASHI KHASHA	HAR	5
5	BINATI MINZ	SAI A	4
5	KARUNA MINZ	SAI A	4