Hosts Jharkhand dominate Sub Jr. Kho Kho nationals

Hosts Jharkhand continued their winning run as both their boys and girls teams won their league matches at the 30th Kho Kho Sub-Junior Nationals at Albert Ekka Kho Kho Stadium, Hotwar in Ranchi on Thursday.

Jharkhand maintained their winning streak as they won their second league match against Bihar with a convincing margin of 12-7 points and an innings to go. Local boy Vishal showed strong defence with three minutes and 40 seconds of stay on the mat while he contributed 3 crucial points to the team with a successful chase.

Spurred on by the home support, Jharkhand girls also won their first league match against Puducherry with a convincing margin of 15-12 and a turn to go. Sujeet turned out to be the mainstay for the Jharkhand team as she displayed fine defensive skills with close to 5 minutes and earned three points on chase for the team.

Gujarat ensured an all-round performance with both their girls and boys team registering wins against Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi respectively. The boys team won their match with 20 points and an inning and the girls had a close contest as they defeated Delhi by 15 points.

Last year's champion team of Maharashtra opened their account with a win over Uttarakhand. The boys maintained their dominance and bagged the match with 11 points and an inning.

Assam on the other hand faced a consecutive loss as the boys team of Haryana cruised past them with 5 points and 1 inning to spare.

The league matches will be completed on Friday followed by the knockout stage starting on October 5. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockouts and the finals will be played on October 6.

( With inputs from IANS )