The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Junior National from today

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Saturday, Apr 14, 2007
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Sport - Hockey

Junior National from today

Sports Reporter

GUNTUR: The nine-day 3rd junior National hockey (u-18) tournament will kick-start at Achraya Nagarjuna University campus on Saturday in which 36 teams will participate, according to tournament director K.S. Sokhi of West Bengal.

Speaking to The Hindu, the Andhra Hockey Association general secretary M. Niranjan Reddy said the Sports Authority of India (Combined) team was taking part for the first time under the supervision of former Olympian and senior National coach Rajinder Singh.

"Due to the tight schedule, we will conduct 10 league matches in two hockey fields spruced up at the university campus. The tournament will be formally inaugurated on the evening of April 14 in which ANU Vice-chancellor Prof. Bala Mohandas will be the chief guest," he added.

In the edition, which was held at Vizag in 2005, Karnataka emerged champion.

The teams are split into eight pools and the top two teams fro each pool will qualify for the quarterfinals.

The groupings: Pool A: Karnataka, Orissa, Patiala, Vidharbha; Pool B: Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Sind & Bank, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tripura; Pool C: Manipur, SAI (Comb), Hyderabad, Himachal, Goa; Pool D: Punjab, SSCB, Bengal, Puducherry; Pool E: Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan; Pool F: J & K, Namdhari, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman; Pool G: Andhra, Maharashtra, Madhya Bharat, Gujarath, Assam; Pool H: Bombay, SAIL, Bhopal, Uttaranchal.