Aga Khan hockey from today

The 101st edition of All-India Aga Khan hockey tournament will kick off at the Bombay Gymkhana on Sunday, with local challengers Western Railway taking on Pune’s Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) in the opening match.

The three petroleum teams, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), all boasting experienced Indian stars in their ranks, start as joint firm favourites to emerge champions in this tournament, which ends on May 21.

These top three outfits along with South Central Railway, who have performed very well in all major tournaments in the country in the last couple of months, have been directly seeded into the quarterfinals. IOC will have Olympians Deepak Thakur, Prabhjoth Singh and Devesh Chauhan, BPCL will have internationals like Sabu Varkey, Ravi Pal Singh and Hari Prasad while ONGC have drag flicker Diwakar Ram in their ranks.

The tournament, which has been revived after nine years, is being played on grass and is the only Grade A domestic tournament to be played on this surface. Air India won the last edition of this tournament back in 2002 but the champions will not be defending their title, saying that playing a tournament on grass will not be an ideal preparation for the national championships in Bhopal next month.

Sunday, however, will pose a big test for the city outfit, Western Railway. Their opponents are used to playing on grass, and that could give them a big advantage. Another concern for WR is that a couple of their players are in the Indian Railways camp preparing for the national championship to be held in June. Their coach Sunil Kumar is confident of a win. “We will miss some key players, but with whatever players are available, I am sure we can still field a strong side,” said Kumar.

In the day’s other matches, Central Railway will lock horns with Abhi Foundation while MS Police will take on Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) in what promises to be an exciting encounter.

IOB, with some big guns in their ranks, including Olympian Adam Sinclair and some senior and junior internationals in their ranks, can fancy their chances of putting it across the Maharashtra cops.
IOB, with some big guns in their ranks, including Olympian Adam Sinclair and some senior and junior internationals in their ranks, can fancy their chances of putting it across the Maharashtra cops.