Kehar wins the off-turf battle, as Bombay Gold Cup commences

Mumbai Hockey Association Secretary Commander Kehar Singh wins the round one of the fued going between him and his distractors. Despite belligerent posture from the IOA controlled Hockey Adhoc Committee and the posture by the previous BHA regime, Kehar went ahead and organized the Bombay Gold Cup as per the schedule.

All the matches scheduled for the opening day were carried out, and the details of the event are given below:

Top teams for Gold Cup hockey

Defending champions Army XI and last year’s runners-up Bharat Petroleum are amongst the leading teams that will feature in the 47th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament that will be held at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium from April 15 to 29.

Army XI, who also won the title in 2006, and 2007 winners Bharat Petroleum will lead a host of formidable squads from all over the country.

The other top outstation teams in the fray include ONGC, Guru Tegh Bahadur runners-up Indian Oil, Border Security Force, 2004 winners Punjab & Sind Bank (Jalandhar), Pamposh XI (Orissa) and Karnataka XI.

Formidable Air India, winners in 2001 and 2002, runners-up in 2007, Hardlines winners in 2008 and Guru Tegh Bahadur winners, will lead the local challenge, made up of teams that are no pushovers and could be dangerous on their day.

The Mumbai squads that will feature in the competition include 2005 winners Western Railway, Navy, M.S. Police, Mumbai Port Trust, Central Railway, RCF and Mumbai Customs.

THE FORMAT

Fourteen teams will play a qualifying knock out that will be held from April 15 to 20. Four teams from the qualifying round will join eight elite teams in the main draw league.

The 12 teams in the main draw league will be divided into the four groups with three teams in each group. The teams finishing on top of each group will qualify for the knock out semi-finals.

PRIZE MONEY

The winners will receive Rs. 1.25 lakh, while the runners-up will receive Rs. 75,000.

In addition, the winners of the Hardlines Trophy, that will be played between the losing semi-finalists, will earn Rs. 25,000.