The Hindu: First match held at new Astro Turf hockey stadium

Ramanathapuram

The newly-laid world class Astro Turf hockey stadium here, inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa through video conferencing on February 27, played host to the ‘IV Senior men inter-district hockey championship 2016’ on Sunday.

This was the first match held at the new stadium named as ‘Velumanickam Synthetic Hockey Stadium’ at the Sethupathy Seethakathi Sports Stadium here after it was inaugurated and the home had the privilege of playing the first match in the morning. They clashed with Kanniyakumari in pool A.

More than 500 players from 29 districts were taking part in the league-cum-knockout championship, organised by the Ramanathapuram District Hockey Association and Hockey unit of Tamil Nadu, B.K. Sethupathi, joint secretary of the district association, said.

The championship was held in two phases and more than 250 players from 14 districts were accommodated in the stadium to play in the league matches from Sunday to Tuesday, he said.

The second batch of more than 250 players from 15 districts would play the matches from March 16 to 18, followed by quarter finals, semi finals and finals on March 19 and 20, he said.

The teams were placed in eight pools, he added.

At the end of the championship, the Tamil Nadu senior men hockey team would be selected and they would represent the State in the All India senior men hockey tournament to be played in Uttar Pradesh, A. Chelladurai Abdullah, president of hockey unit of Tamil Nadu, said.