Women's national hockey in Lucknow from Thursday

Lucknow - Twenty-nine teams, including defending champions Railways, will participate in the 13-day third Hockey India Senior Women’s National Hockey Championship beginning Thursday at the Major Dhyan Chand Astro Turf Stadium here.

Railway’s Davinder Bhatia has been named tournament director while Lucknow’s Avinash Srivastava would be the umpires’ manager.

The second edition was organised in October 2012 in Bhopal. The teams have been divided into eight pools and would play league matches first. One team from each pool will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played April 28. The two semifinals are slated to be played April 29 while the final will be played April 30.