PNN
Bhubaneswar, Sept 20: In a bid to promote hockey and to find out talents from rural areas of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the Dilip Tirkey Sports Research and Development Foundation announced Tuesday the launch of the ‘Biju Patnaik Rural Hockey Championship’(BPRHC) at a press conference at the Kalinga Stadium Conference Hall here, Tuesday.
Speaking about the initiative, Tirkey stressed on the need to recognise talents who are failing to attract the attention of the scouts due to the lack of training and proper playing facilities.
“If talented players get the right guidance, it will not only strengthen our state team, but also give a huge boost to the Indian side. Promoting hockey in the rural areas will not only spread awareness, but also help in improving the standard of the game,” said Rajya Sabha member Tirkey who also termed the event as the ‘Hockey Festival’.
Tirkey informed that the tournament will be spread over 32 venues in Sundargarh, Sambalpur and Deogarh in Orissa and in different districts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Approximately 1,500 teams are expected to participate in the event. The top two teams from each of the 32 venues (total 64) will qualify for the knockout stage of the BPRHC. The former India player also stated that tentatively Rourkela has been finalised as the venue to host the final.
However, the dates of the event are yet to be finalised. “We are planning to start the tournament in the second week of November and finish it by the first week of March, next year. The exact dates will be announced soon,” Tirkey informed.