Lucknow: 27 teams from across the country, including defending champions Haryana, runners-up Odisha and third-place holders Punjab would be seen in action in the 2nd edition of the Hockey India Junior Men Hockey Championship, beginning September in Lucknow.
This is the first time after many years that a tournament of such significance is taking place in Lucknow and the Hockey India will scout talents from this event to join Indian camp for future international events. Hockey India has appointed Col Balbir Singh, Syed Ali and Thoiba Singh as three selectors for the event. Bengal's HS Sokhi has been named tournament director, while Lucknow's Avinash Srivastava would be the umpire's manager.
The 1st edition of the championship was held at Pune last year. All the 27 teams, who have been divided in eight different pools, would play league matches first. One team from each team will qualify for the quarterfinals to be played on September 7.
The two semi-finals are slated to be played on September 8, where as the final will be played on September 9. T
he participating teams include, Haryana, Assam, Bengal, Odisha, Manipur, Tripura, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, SAI Bhopal, MP Hockey Association (MPHA), Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Pudicherry, Rajasthan and hosts Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh, who failed to make it to the quarterfinals last year with one win and one loss, has been clubbed with Jharkhand and Delhi in Pool D.
"We are committed for the successful conduct of the event as this has been an honour for Uttar Pradesh Hockey to conduct the national championship in Lucknow after a long gap," said RP Singh.
"It's an effort to revive hockey in the state and our players will certainly get benefit of this event," he added. He also informed that around 50 coaches from across all parts of the country would also be participating in the 1st FIH Hockey India High Performance Coaching Camp to be held from September 4-9, at the Hotel Avadh International, at the Faizabad Road here.
Internationally recognised FIH Master Coach and FIH Coaching Manager Mr Tayyab Ikram and FIH Grade-1 Coach Mr Siegfried Aikman will conduct the course.
This course will be an excellent opportunity for coaches from all over India to gain knowledge and experience in international exchange. It will be a learning experience as well as an opportunity to gain Level 3 Certification in the 3-year course.
By Indian Sports News Network
