Jharkhand’s 4-2 win over four-time champions Haryana to clinch the 8th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2018 (A Division) title reiterates the state’s reputation as one of the fast-becoming hotbed for Indian women’s hockey team.

The team, led by 18-year-old Alka Dungdung, came from a goal down to defeat Hockey Haryana 4-2. This was Jharkhand’s first Junior Women National Championship title.

“Most of the players in the team hail from families that are below the poverty line. So, this is a big achievement for them,” the team’s coach Tarini Kumar told The Field.

The final against Haryana, she said, was the most challenging match of the tournament.

Haryana who had scored the first goal of the match in the 17th minute through Deepika but Jharkhand scored thrice in the second half to take a 3-1 lead.

Haryana’s hopes of winning a fifth title were renewed after Kajal’s goal in the 66th minute. But Salima Tete closed the contest with the fourth and final goal of the match.

“All the players were good throughout the tournament. We tried to give all of them opportunities and they gave their best,” said the coach.

Jharkhand’s fast-becoming one of the major producers of hockey players in the country, especially for the women’s team. In 2016, hailing from Hesal (a small village in Jharkhand affected by Maoist-insurgency) Nikki Pradhan became the first hockey player from the state to feature in the Olympics. She was also part of the team that beat China in the Asia Cup this November.

In the junior national team, too, there are four players from the state – Deepika Soreng, Supriya Mundu, Sangita Kumari and Alka Dung Dung – apart from Salima. Salima captained the Indian junior team that finished runners-up at the Youth Olympics qualifiers in Bangkok last month.

According to Hockey Jharkhand President Bhola Nath Singh, most of the players from the junior women’s team that won the national title hail from Simdega, a sparsely populated district comprising mostly of people from the Scheduled Tribe community. The BPL revision survey of 2010-11 says that there are over 91% households in the district’s rural areas that are below the poverty line.

Singh’s happy about the girls from the state doing well at the national level. He said that Hockey Jharkhand will ensure that the state produces more good players. “But the focus is more on developing the boys squad,” he said. For neither in the senior national squad or the junior squad has a player from Jharkhand.