Niharika to lead Vidarbha team in Junior National Hockey Championship

NAGPUR: Niharika Thakur will lead the Vidarbha squad in the Junior National 'B Division Women's Hockey Championship slated to be held at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh from April 26 to May 5.
The 18 participating teams have been divided in four groups and the top team from each pool will qualify for the semis. Vidarbha are placed in Group 'A' along with Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Patiala, Steel Plant Sports Board.Group 'B' comprises Bengal, Gujarat, Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh. Group 'C' includes Odisha, Assam, Goa and Himachal Pradesh, while Group D consisted of Manipur, Uttarakhand, Triupura and Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura.
In the first match, Vidarbha will clash with Bihar on Sunday. On Monday, they will meet Patiala, while on April 29, they will take on Andhra Pradesh. In the fourth and last league encounter on May 1, Vidarbha will face Steel Plant Sports Board.
Vidarbha team: Niharika Thakur (captain), Monika Nagose (vice-captain), Rupali Tirpude, Baljit Kaur, Manjusha Kinkar, Palllavi Mane, Shruti Bagde, Samiksha Mahakalkar, Shubhangi Harne, Pallavi Shegaonkar, Bhakti Mehta, Shraddha Bansod, Santoshi Sarote, Shiani Khamele, Sakshi Jamnik, Aishwarya Kumbhare, Shahjadi Bano Sheikh. Coach: Shital Singh Thakur. Manager: Rajat Tiwari.