The Hindu : Top teams for Beighton Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Top teams for Beighton Cup

KOLKATA MARCH 21. The 108th all-India Beighton Cup hockey tournament, the oldest field hockey meet in the world, has attracted 14 crack combinations from all over the country, including last year's champion Punjab Police and the runner-up CRPF.

The blue-riband meet of the East, to be sponsored by Indian Oil, will begin here on Saturday.

The final is slated for April 4. Matches will be played in three tier basis: preliminary knockout matches followed by round-robin quarterfinal league and knockout semifinals and the final.

Four teams will qualify for quarterfinal league where the four seeded teams will be placed. The eight teams will be divided into two groups. After league games, two top teams from each group will move into knockout semifinals.

This year's meet has enhanced prize money with almost Rs.1 lakh 10,000 being added to last year's offering of Rs.1,90,000.

The Union government's decision not to allow an Indian team to participate in the Azlan Shah tourney in Malaysia meant all the Indian players are expected to represent their teams in this meet.

Besides Punjab Police and CRPF (New Delhi), the other outstanding teams confirmed are Air-India, Punjab & Sind Bank, Bombay XI, Army XI, CISF, BSF (Jalandhar), Tamil Nadu XI, Karnataka XI, Indian Oil Corporation, All-India Port, EME and Sikh Regimental Centre (Ramgarh). — Our Special Correspondent

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