People of Bhopal will witness the excellent performance of 12 best hockey teams of the country for the next one week.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia will inaugurate the prestigious Obaidullah Khan Heritage Cup hockey tournament at Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium on Monday at 11:30 am.
Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia has said that it is a pleasant experience for me to restart the country’s most prestigious heritage hockey tournament. Sports activities were badly affected due to Covid-19. Players will get a chance to make a comeback through this tournament. Over the years this tournament has been most popular in Madhya Pradesh.
With limited resources and strong will power, we are able to start it again. The country is sure to get future champions from this tournament. In the year 1931, the Obaidullah Khan Cup hockey tournament was started for the first time by the name Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup. The tournament was last held in 2016 under the name of Obaidullah Khan Heritage Hockey Cup, in which Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) team became the champion. Earlier in 2011, the Air India team became the champion.
The best hockey teams of the country including Indian Oil, Indian Railways, Punjab and Sind Bank, Army XI, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, CNG, GST and Central Excise Chennai, Punjab Police, Indian Navy, Army Green, Central Secretariat and Madhya Pradesh Hockey Association will be taking part in the tournament from March 21-27.
All the teams will showcase their talent for the prize money of Rs.11 lakh. The runner-up of the tournament will get Rs 7 lakh, winners of the third prize will get Rs 3 lakh and the fourth prize will be Rs 1.5 lakh. In the category of individual prize, the player of the match will be given an amount of Rs 5,000 per match.
The player of the match in semi-final, final and one hard line match will be given Rs 10,000 per match. Apart from this, Player of the Tournament, Best Goalkeeper, Best Deep Defender, Best Midfielder, Best Forward will be given cash prizes of Rs 10,000 each. The Sports and Youth Welfare Department will make arrangements for accommodation, food and local transport for all the teams.
Lav Kumar Kanojia (Captain), Hemant Dhanraj Singh (Goalkeeper), Aman Khan (Goalkeeper), Telam Priyabarta, Saurabh Pashine, Kashif Khan, Sundaram Singh Rajawat, Anil, Saddam Ahmed, Konan Dad, Himanshu Sainik, Rajat, Deepak Sharma, Haider Ali, Shrey Dubey, Ali Ahmed, Mudassar Qureshi and Tounganajam Ingalemba Luwang is included in team. The head coach of the team is Sameer Dad, assistant coach Lokendra Sharma and the manager is Habib Hasan.