Tribhuvan Army Club made winning start in both their men’s and women’s category matches of the National Hockey Tournament held under the National Sports Council (NSC) Championships in Hetauda on Monday. 

Holders Army registered a convincing 8-0 victory over Eastern Region riding on 

four goals from Devsingh Dhami. He scored in the 9th, 19th, 34th and 50th minutes. Ram Shah was on target thrice in the 33rd, 47th and 50th minute after Satya Narayan Chaudhary put them ahead early in the eighth minute.

In the women’s match, a solitary goal from Sarita Meche in the 41st minute proved decider to stun defending champions Farwest 1-0. In another women’s match, Central Region edged past Eastern Region 1-0. Sima Khadka’s 59th minute goal turned decisive.

In other match of the men’s section, Farwest beat Central Region 1-0 with Suresh Prasad Joshi scoring the only goal of the game. The tournament features five regional teams and Tribhuvan Army Club in the men’s category. Army, Midwest and Eastern Region are drawn in Group ‘A’ while Central, Western and Far Western Regions are in Group ‘B’. 

The men’s tournament is played under league-cum-knockout format. The women’s event is participated in by five teams and is played under round robin league format. Army and all the regional teams except Midwest are competing in the tournament. The top two teams from the league will fight it out for the women’s championship. The event is played at Institute of Forestry grounds.