LUCKNOW: The National championships of any sport is considered the pinnacle. Not when the sport is hockey, which has developed its own system of identifying and promoting talent.
With the eighth edition of the tournament entering its business end here from Thursday, only a handful of players would have something at stake.
With High Performance Director David John watching the proceedings throughout, the quarterfinals of the National will have some usual suspects, some surprising contenders and a few national team hopefuls battling it out with seasoned professionals boasting of enough international experience.
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“The competition is important for the younger players, those who can realistically be part of the national side in 2020. There are already 18 players selected for CWG who will most likely be part of the pruned 24-member squad for the rest of the year.
“We are looking at having a developmental side of 24 more and some of those excluded may move there. That is the group we are looking to fill with younger players from this competition,” a Hockey India official explained.
Five of the eight teams from the previous version will be in action even as Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), promoted from ‘B’ Division and easily the favourite and the most star-studded, will be keen to reaffirm its top status on the domestic circuit.
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Led by Tushar Khandker and boasting of names like V.R. Raghunath, Birendra Lakra, Vickram Kanth, Harjeet Singh and Vikas Dahiya, the PSPB side clearly out-muscles the rest on reputation. It will take on Chandigarh, though, which cared little for reputations to cause a few scares last year.
Defending champion Railways plays Punjab & Sind Bank in another quarterfinal in a repeat of last year’s final that it won in shootouts.
With a hat-trick of titles, Railways has been the team to beat in recent years but it has seen a massive loss of personnel since then. All the names that helped it dominate have either moved elsewhere or are part of the national team — Amit Rohidas, Affan Yousuf, Yuvraj Walmiki, Nilakanta Sharma among others.
It has still managed to remain the only unbeaten side in the competition so far.
Quarterfinals line-up:
Railways vs. PSB; CAG vs. Punjab; Air India vs. Odisha; PSPB vs. Chandigarh.