Jr Men Hockey Nationals in Lucknow
Lucknow, August 24: As many as 27 teams from across the country, including defending champions Haryana, runners-up Odisha and third-place holders Punjab, would be seen in action in the nine-day 2nd Hockey India Junior Men Hockey Championship, beginning September 1, at the Major Dhyan Chand Astro Turf Stadium at the Guru Govind Singh Sports College in Lucknow.
Organising Secretary Ram Prakash Singh informed that this was after many years a national championship is being organised in Lucknow.
Selection of probables for the India camp for the future junior international events like World Championships, etc, would be done during the championship. Hockey India has appointed Col Balbir Singh, Syed Ali and Thoiba Singh as three selectors for the event.
Bengal’s HS Sokhi has been named tournament director, while Lucknow’s Avinash Srivastava would be the umpire’s manager.
The first edition of the championship was organised in December last at Pune.
All the 27 teams are divided into eight different pools, would play league matches first. One team from each team will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played on September 7. The two semi-finals are slated to be played on September 8, where as the final will be played on September 9.
The participating teams include, Haryana, Assam, Bengal, Odisha, Manipur, Tripura, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, SAI Bhopal, MP Hockey Association (MPHA), Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Pudicherry, Rajasthan and hosts Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh, who failed to make it to the quarterfinals last year with one win and one loss, has been clubbed with Jharkhand and Delhi in Pool D.
“We are committed for the successful conduct of the event as this has been an honour for Uttar Pradesh Hockey to conduct the national championship in Lucknow after a long gap,” said RP Singh.
“It’s an effort to revive hockey in the state and our players will certainly get benefit of this event,” he added.
He also informed that around 50 coaches from across all parts of the country would also be participating in the 1st FIH Hockey India High Performance Coaching Camp to be held from September 4-9, at the Hotel Avadh International, at the Faizabad Road here.
Internationally recognised FIH Master Coach and FIH Coaching Manager Mr Tayyab Ikram and FIH Grade-1 Coach Mr Siegfried Aikman will conduct the course.
This course will be an excellent opportunity for coaches from all over India to gain knowledge and experience in international exchange. It will be a learning experience as well as an opportunity to gain Level 3 Certification in the 3-year course.