The Hockey Citizen Group on Wednesday announced the launch of the inaugural Cairn Junior Hockey Cup 2015 to promote hockey at the grassroots. The tournament will be held at the Shivaji Stadium, in the heart of the city, beginning on Thursday.

Aiming to provide a competitive platform for school children in hockey, tournament will see 24 schools from across Delhi and the NCR participating in the under-14 and the under-17 categories. This will also be the first time a junior tournament will have prize money for the winner. The tournament is approved by Hockey India.

Prominent schools participating in the tournament include Modern School (Barakhamba Road), S.S. Mota Singh (Janak Puri), Manav Sthali School, Bal Bharti School (Noida), Anglo-Arabic Sr. Sec. School, Delhi Police Public School, Army Public School (Dhaula Kuan), Govt. Boys Sr. Sec School (Saket), Govt. Boys Sr. Sec. School (Ashok Vihar), DTEA (Mandir Marg) and Govt. Boys Sr. Sec. School (Mehrauli).

Present at the tournament launch were Olympians Ajit Pal Singh, Harbinder Singh and 1975 World Cup winner HJS Chimni. “It has been our constant endeavour to develop hockey in India at the grassroots. I am confident this initiative will go a long way in encouraging the sport among school children. I would like to thank Cairn India for its support to promote hockey and convey appreciation to Hockey India for its support,” Hockey Citizen Group founder K. Arumugam said.