Senior Men’s National Championship to begin tomorrow

Senior Men’s National Championship 2013 will be played at Pune, Maharashtra from 28 May-10 June 2013.

The 38-teams event, to be played on league cum knockout basis, at two turfs, Major Dhyan Chand Polygrass Hockey Stadium Pimpri and Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex in Pune, will see four new teams including Comptroller and Auditor General, Sports Authority of India, Mumbai Hockey Association Limited and Namdhari XI.

Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Tripura in Pool B will the inaugural match. The final match will be played on 10 June 2013.

The 38 teams are divided into eight pools. Defending Champions Punjab have been drawn in Pool A with Delhi, Association of Indian Universities, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.

Hockey India selectors and Government Observer will be watching the performance of all the players to select the probables for future camps.

The pools are:

Pool A: Punjab, Delhi, Association of Indian Universities, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh

Pool B: Air India, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Puducherry, Tripura and Chhattisgarh

Pool C: Karnataka, Services Sports Control Board, Bihar, Goa and Sports Authority of India

Pool D:Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, The Hockey Maharashtra, Andaman & Nicobar and Mumbai Hockey Association Limited

Pool E: Jharkhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Bengal and Comptroller & Auditor General

Pool F:Railways, Hockey Bhopal, Sashastra Seema Bal, Jammu & Kashmir and Namdhari XI

Pool G: Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kerala

Pool H: Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Assam and Rajasthan

Fixture Day-1 (Tuesday 28 May 2013)

Matches at Major Dhyan Chand Polygrass Hockey Stadium Pimpri

Pool B: Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy vs Tripura (0700hrs), Air India vs Puducherry (0830hrs)

Pool D: Uttar Pradesh vs Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd (1430hrs), The Hockey Maharashtra vs Andaman & Nicobar (1600hrs)

Matches at Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex

Pool F: Railways vs Jammu & Kashmir (0700hrs), Hockey Bhopal vs Sashastra Seema Bal (1430hrs)

Pool H: Chandigarh vs Rajasthan (1600hrs)