The organizers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey had to change their league cum knock out format in to round robin after some leading teams pull out.
Teams like Air India, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum were in the fray, but they requested the orgnizers to excuse them, leaving only six teams for the competition. The reason put out by the pulling team was that most of their star player are going to attend city-based WSH franchises.
“We wanted use the changing scenario in a positive way. Therefore, all teams will play each other in a round robin format, and it will help these teams like Air Force, Army XI and others valuable practice”, said Brig HJS Chimni, organizing secretary of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey tournament Society.