CHANDIGARH: Yorkshire Club from London Kenyan Club from Kenya and a stutt gart-based German Hockey Club will be making their debut in the 12th Surjit Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament which commences this year from November 6 at Jalandhar. It concludes on Nov.18.
Besides the three foreign clubs three other clubs which are in the line for participation are Afghan Club (Bahawalpur) Ideal Club( Lahore) and a club from Yugoslavia.
This was disclosed by Jagjit Puri SDM Chandigarh and secretary of the Surjit Singh Memorial Hockey Society here.
The invitations have been issued to the six foreign teams. Even if one of them withdraws for some reason at the last moment there will be fair representation of foreign teams in the tournament.
Besides them other teams that will adorn the list of the society include Air India Railways Southern Railway North-Eastern Railway Mohindra and Mohindra Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala) Army Service Corps ASC Corps of Signals Punjab Police BSF and EME (all from Jalandhar).
According to Puri a total of 20 teams will be taking part in the competition. Keeping up the old tradition of the society to provide the best ever available facilities Puri said the participating teams would once again been provided not less than two-star hotel facilities. The budget estimate this year is Rs 3 lakh. The society plans to raise the funds through sponsorship fees in addition to collecting money through the publication of a souvenir. Last year Lehar Pepsi had sponsored the meet. This time the sponsorships issue is yet to be decided. Besides Puri has also written to the Punjab Sports Department for a grant of Rs 1 lakh However it is certain that the organizers would be given the grant to the tune of Rs 40000 an amount given last year.
The Jalandhar Kendra of Doordarshan will telecast live the semifinals while the final will be telecast live on the national hook-up.
H.K.L. Hakku Secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Hockey Association will present the running trophy to the winners costing Rs 35000.
The Surjit society is also organizing competition for the women for the first time. Thus the first Surjit Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament for women will be conducted from November 6 to 13 As many as 15 teams will be participating in the competition. That means the two tournaments will run side by side from Nov.6 to 13 and only the men’s tournament will extend further to Nov. 18 Matches in both men’s and women’s sections will be played on Astroturf.
According to Puri there is no need to raise separate funds for the women’s competition as the budget for the main competition will be enough to conduct it smoothly.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 9, 1991
