The sleepy village of Kovvali near Eluru in West Godavari District will witness quality hockey fare for four days as players from 14 districts would vie for honours in the youth girls' tournament that kicks off on Thursday.
This inter-district tournament assumes significance as it is the first one to be held after the merger of Andhra and Hyderabad Hockey Associations as Hockey Andhra Pradesh.
Says Hockey Andhra Pradesh general secretary M. Niranjan Reddy, “Players born on or after January 1,1993, are eligible for participation.
A pool of players who would play for the State in the forthcoming national tournaments will be selected during the tournament.”
Mr. Reddy said that the tourney would be conducted on a league-cum-knockout basis and six matches would be held every day at Zilla Parishad High School grounds. “Earlier, our (Andhra) players never played teams from Telangana Districts as they came under the jurisdiction of Hyderabad Hockey Association.
This tournament would help Andhra players to assess their strengths and weaknesses playing against quality rivals,” he added.
West Godavari Hockey Association is making the boarding and lodging for the players at the village.
“Denduluru MLA D. Prabhakar will be the chief guest of the inaugural function and West Godavari Zilla Parishad chairman Seshu Babu will preside over the function,” Mr. Niranjan said.
