RATTAN TATA TROPHY – A SLICE OF BRIGHT HISTORY

Monday, March 18, 2002:

First edition of the National Championship for women was held at Bombay, now known as Mumbai, in 1948 following India’s Independence.

Since then, the annual Championship has been held uninterrupted, save thrice. The 33rd edition for the year 1979-1980, allotted to Shima in Himchal Pradesh, could not be staged due to lack of govenmental or sponsor support. The championships due for 1996-1997 and 2000-2001 were also not held due to the same reason.

Each affiliated unit of the Indian Women Hockey Association, as the Indian Women Hockey Federation was known then, took part and the winner was awarded Lady Rattan Tata Trophy.

The Trophy was named after the wife of industrial giant, Tata Group. Incidentally, a member of the Tata clan was heading the Indian Hockey Federation which administers the sport of men’s hockey.

The Indian Railways formed its team in late 70s and won the Championship on its maiden foray in 1980-1981, defeating the giants Punjab at Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Since then, it has been winning the title regularly. The team, presently coached by Ashok Diwan, member of the 1975 World Cup winning team and 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medallist, has won the title for a record 17 times on trot.

Before the advent of the first institutional team in the form of Indian Railways, Bombay, Mysore (now known as Karnataka) and Punjab were the formidable teams besides the Combined Indian Universities.

So far, Bombay has won the Champinship nine times, the win coming in 1960.

Mysore has won eight times; the last win in 1968

Punjab has won ten times; the last win in 1979. Punjab is still a formidable team as it has reached the final as late as 1995.

Though Haryana has been participating in the prestigious competition for quite some time, it reached the final for the first time in 1997-1998.

Haryana is a small province in the Northern part of India. Most of its players come from rural background from Shahbad area. Coach Baldev Singh, a Deputy Director with the Sports Department of Government of Haryana, is a source behind the rise of Haryana team.