Final leg of Super Division hockey starts on Jan 8

Bangalore, Jan 4, DHNS:

The final phase of the State Super Division hockey league will kick off on Saturday with a bigger prize money and with two leading teams returning to the fray.

Backed by sponsor Ozone Group, the January 8-29 event at KSHA stadium will see the participation of 13 teams, including defending champions Bharath Petroleum Corporation Limited, runners-up Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Air India and Namadhari Academy, with the last two teams making a return to the league.

“We are happy to announce the return of Super Division to the KSHA stadium,” said KSHA Secretary K Krishnamurthy. “The event is one the top hockey leagues in the country and as part our continuous effort to enhance the competition, we have increased the prize money and will be the hosting the final week of matches under floodlights.”

“We did try to bring in international umpires to add value but so far we have not achieved any success. We will try our best and hopefully a couple of them will turn up. With so many internationals participating, it will only add value to the competition,” added Krishnamurthy.
The winners will receive Rs two lakh — an increase of Rs 50,000 — the runners-up Rs 1.5 lakh and the third-placed team Rs one lakh and the fourth-placed team Rs 50,000.

A few of the internationals who will be seen in action are — Rajpal Singh, Baljit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, VR Raghunath, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, Adrian D’Souza, Dhanajay Mahadik and Bharath Chetri.

Competing teams: BPCL, IOCL, Army Red, Fortis, Army Green, SAI, ASC, MEG, Canara Bank, Namdhari Academy, Air India.