MUMBAI, September 21: Mahindra Stadium was being given the finishing touches by international umpire and former Railways goalkeeper Satinder Pal Singh Walia and his dedicated band of workers on the eve of the Bank of Baroda-sponsored 31st Junior Women's National hockey championship, which gets under way tomorrow. Formidable Punjab take on Karnataka in the first of the five matches slated for the opening day.The previous edition of the championship was held in Jalandhar in 1996, where Haryana were the eventual champions and Manipur the runner-up. Thanks to the three-year gap, caused we are told by a lack of sponsorship, none of the stars from the old edition will be on display. The current tourney is expected to throw up new young stars. Haryana and Manipur are favourites because of their past showing. They can expect some challenge from Punjab, Karnataka, Orissa, Chandigarh and Delhi.According to former international Eliza Nelson, the standard of the competition will be quite high, while Happy Phool,also an ex-India star, said that Pools A (Haryana, Himachal and Pepsu) B (UP, TN and Bihar) and C (Punjab, Karnataka) were the toughest.Rajasthan, who were clubbed with Punjab and Karnataka in Pool C, have withdrawn from the competition. Apparently, they couldn't field a team. Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Mizoram have yet to confirm their participation. The teams have been divided into eight pools, and the winner of each pool will advance to the quarter-final.Sponsors Bank of Baroda have coughed up Rs 10 lakh for the event. The bank had also sponsored the '96 Allahabad sub-junior and the '98 Chennai Senior Nationals. EXPERIMENT: Techinal advisor Walia said the championship will test the new International Hockey Federation (FIH) provisional rule for penalty-corners for the first time in India.The rule, framed to cut the influence of the Bovelanders and Suhail Abbases, ensures that all short corners are indirectly taken. To ensure this, a dotted line (in yellow) has been drawn concentric and fiveyards outside the penalty circle. Players will be positioned beyond this circle while taking the corner. Walia said that they will forward the findings from the experiment to the FIH.
