The third day of league matches in the 69th National School Under-17 Hockey Championship in Jharkhand witnessed intense and competitive action yesterday, as teams from across the country delivered strong performances. The tournament, organised by the Jharkhand Education Project Council under the Department of School Education and Literacy, is being held from January 27 to 31 and features 63 boys’ and girls’ teams.

Host Jharkhand continued its winning run, defeating Rajasthan 6-0 in the boys’ category and KVS 8-0 in the girls’ category, to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. In the boys’ category, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Manipur, Vidya Bharati, and Gujarat registered victories. In the girls’ category, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Vidya Bharati, Manipur, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Bihar emerged as winners.