Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 16 (ANI): The 13th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship will begin on Friday in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The tournament will have 29 teams which will be divided into eight groups and the final of the tournament will be played on 28th November. The National Championship will be held at the same venue where the Indian Men’s Hockey Team got hold of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai earlier this year.
Pool A will have reigning champions of the tournament Hockey Haryana along with Chhattisgarh Hockey, and Hockey Gujrat.
Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, Hockey Himachal and Assam Hockey are placed in Pool B. Pool C will consist of Hockey Karnataka, Hockey Bihar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey. Pool D comprises Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Punjab, Hockey Uttarakhand, and Tripura Hockey.
Hockey Bengal, Hockey Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Jammu & Kashmir, and Manipur Hockey will battle it out in Pool E.
Pool F will see Hockey Jharkhand go up against Hockey Chandigarh, Hockey Andhra Pradesh, and Goans Hockey. Pool G is made up of Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Le Puducherry Hockey, Kerala Hockey, and Hockey Rajasthan. On the other hand, Delhi Hockey, the Hockey Association of Odisha, Telangana Hockey, and Hockey Arunachal are placed in Pool H.
The table topper from each pool will move to the knock stage of the tournament. The winners of the Semi-Finals will lock horns in the Final match on 28th November.
A total of 31 players from the India Hockey team will be taking part in this tournament. India skipper Harmanpreet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Krishan B Pathak, Jarmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, and Gurinder Singh will represent Hockey Punjab.
While, Amit Rohidas, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Dipsan Tirkey, and Shilanand Lakra will take part in the tournament with the Hockey Association of Odisha. Uttar Pradesh Hockey will include Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Rajkumar Pal, Pawan Rajbhar, and Prashant Kumar Chauhan.
Hockey Haryana will have Sumit, Sanjay, Abhishek, Mandeep Mor, Pawan Malik, Yashdeep Siwach, and Manjeet while Vivek Sagar Prasad will take the field for Hockey Madhya Pradesh.
Nilakanta Sharma will play for Manipur Hockey, Mohd Raheel Mouseen will represent Hockey Karnataka, Suraj Karkera will feature for Hockey Maharashtra, Maninder Singh will represent Hockey Chandigarh while local boy S. Karthi will lead the line for last year’s runners-up, Hockey Tamil Nadu.
“I am excited to go back to Chennai and play hockey. The overwhelming support we received during the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 helped us perform better, so I hope the residents of Chennai turn up in droves again. The Senior Men National Championship is a good opportunity for players on the precipice of the Indian Team to rub shoulders with players from the current team and raise the overall level of hockey. I am looking forward to a great tournament,” Hockey Team Captain Harmanpreet Singh said as quoted by Hockey India. (ANI)
