31st IndianOil SERVO Surjit Hockey from October 30

Two Pakistani Teams will seen in action

IndianOil SERVO Surjit Hockey Tournament will be played in Jalandhar at the Olympian Surjit Singh polytan turf Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park from October 29.

Men would be played in two phases, in which 21 top ranking teams of the country including one team from Pakistan will exhibit their skills. The main attraction of the tournament will be the Two Pakistani teams Punjab-XI (Pakistan) in Men section and Rest of Pakistan team in Women section will be seen in action during the tournament. The first phase will be pre- qualifying round, where 10 teams will participate and the winner team of this round will qualify for the league stage matches of the tournament, starting from October 29.

In the league stage, total 11 teams including one foreign team have been seeded directly. In pre qualify round matches, Punjab Police, RCF Kapurthala, Indian Air Force Delhi, CRPF Delhi, Corps of Signals, PSPCL Patiala, Indian Navy Mumbai, BSF Jalandhar, Punjab-XI (India) and EME Jalandhar will participate. This pre qualify round will be played from October 25 to 28. The last Years’ Champion Punjab & Sind Bank Delhi, Runners up IndianOil Mumbai, Bharat Petroleum Mumbai, ONGC, Delhi, Indian Railways, Delhi, Army-XI, Punjab-XI (Pakistan), Punjab National Bank, Delhi, Indian Overseas Bank Bangalore, Air India, Mumbai and Namdhari-XI have seeded directly into league stage. Mostly, all the matches of the tournament will be played under flood lights and no gate entry money will be charged from the spectators who will come to witness the game of hockey, Mr. yadav Added.

Pargat Singh that in women section of the tournament, four teams namely Punjab-XI (India), Haryana-XI, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala and Rest of Pakistan, Lahore will participate. These matches will be played on round robin league basis. Both Men & Women teams have been selected by a Team Selection Committee, headed by Olympian & Padamshree Pargat Singh, Iqbal Singh Sandhu, Amrik Singh Powar and Lakhwinder Pal Singh Khaira, Mr. Yadav Added.

Multinational gym company Gold’s Gym, Jalandhar, CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar, Uppal Hospitality Group (UHG) of Hong Kong, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India will be the co-sponsors of the tournament. The Cash Award of Rs. 5.0 lacs to the Winner team is sponsored by USA based NRI Amolak Singh Ghakhal, Chairman, Gold’s Gym, Jalandhar, the Runners’ up cash award of Rs. 2.5 lacs has been sponsored by Mr. Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman of the CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar while the Sports Kits/Scholarships worth Rs. 2.0 lacs to budding players are sponsored by the Mr. Kuldip Singh Uppal of UHG, Hong Kong. As in the past, the best player of the tournament will get Mohinder Singh Tut Memorial Award along with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000. This prize is Sponsored by Ranbir Singh Rana Tut. A committee for the smooth conduct of the tournament has also been formed, Mr. Pargat Singh added.

It has also been decided to honour NRI Sports Promoter, Punjabi Folk Singer and Promoter of Hockey for their achievements on the final day of the tournament. For the selection of these personalities, a committee comprising of Mrs. Sarojini Gautam Sharda, PCS, Bhupinder Singh Makkar, Col. Manmohan Singh, Ram Partap and Mr. Baldev Singh has been constituted. The world famous Marshal Art (Gatka) will also be preformed Live by the Bir Khalsa Dal team on the inaugural day of the tournament on Oct.. 29.

Semi-finals and final will be telecast live on PTC news. A ball to ball running commentary will also be relayed by the ALL INDIA RADIO. The Surjit Hockey Society has also decided increase the number of prizes to be awarded to the spectators, who will come to witness the Surjit hockey matches. The main idea is to attract & to create more interest amongst the general public for our national game of Hockey. The spectators will get daily lucky coupons till Nov. 7 at the entrance of the gates.

Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, Mr, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab, Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema, Mr. Sohan Singh Thandal, Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Mr. Ajit Singh Kohar (All Cabinet Ministers) Mr. Som Parkash, Mr. Pawan Kumar Tinu, Mr. KD Bhandari, Mr. Avinash Chander (All Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Punjab) would also visit during the tournament days to bless the participating players and officials.