Junior men’s championship from Sept. 1

Twenty-seven teams from across the country, including defending champion Haryana, would be seen in action in the nine-day, second Hockey India (HI) junior men’s hockey championship from September 1.

Organising Secretary Dr. Ram Prakash Singh said that a National Championship was being organised in Lucknow after a long time. The selection of probables for the India camp for future junior international events like World Championships would be done during the tournament to be played at the Major Dhyan Chand Astro-Turf Stadium.

HI has appointed Col. Balbir, Syed Ali and Thoiba Singh as the three selectors for the event. Bengal’s H.S. Sokhi has been named the Tournament Director, while Lucknow’s Avinash Srivastava would be the Umpire’s Manager.

The first edition of the event was organised at Pune in December 2011. The 27 teams have been divided into eight pools. One team from each poll will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played on Sept. 7. The two semifinals are slated for Sept. 8, while the final will be played on Sept. 9.

The teams:Haryana, Assam, Bengal, Odisha, Manipur, Tripura, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, SAI (Bhopal), MPHA, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh.