Jalandhar: Hockey Junior National Championship from September 9

Jalandhar: The 14th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship will be organised by Hockey Punjab at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar from September 9-19.

Hockey Punjab president Nitin Kohli and general secretary Amrik Singh Powar gave a detailed information during the annual general meeting of Hockey Punjab today.

Powar said it was for the first time a junior national championship was being organised by Hockey Punjab. As many as 30 teams from different states would participate in this junior men’s national hockey championship. Also, all matches would be telecast live.

Hockey Punjab has started efforts to conduct this championship in the best way. During the meeting, the district units of Hockey Punjab were asked to make efforts to promote hockey at the grassroot level.

During this meeting, the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Hockey Punjab, Padam Shri Pargat Singh, said there was a lot of hockey skills in Punjab and the district units should make efforts at their own level to maintain it.

Strong demand for astroturf ground

During the meeting of Hockey Punjab, the issue was raised by many district units that there is a need for astroturf grounds to raise the standard of hockey. District unit Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Malerkotla and Mansa raised the demand and said they had a large number of budding sportsmen but lacked basic facilities, sports kits and astroturf. On this matter, the president, general secretary and chairman of the advisory board of Hockey Punjab said a delegation of Hockey Punjab would take up this issue with the government so that astroturf grounds could be arranged for the players to practise.