Pune, May 24: The 3rd Hockey India senior men's national championship is to be held here at the Shiv Chattrapati Sports Complex and Major Dhyan Chand Hockey stadium in nearby Pimpri town from May 28 to June 10.
The participating teams, numbering 37, have been divided into 8 pools and the toppers of each pool will make it to the quarter finals, said event Organising Secretary and Joint Secretary of HI Manoj Bhore at a news conference today.
The 14-day championship is to be inaugurated by Maharashtra Sports Minister Padmakar Valvi in the presence of HI's High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans.
The tournament is supported by the Maharashtra Olympic Association and the Department of Sports and Youth Services of the State Government, said Bhore.
Pune had previously hosted the inaugural Hockey India junior men's nationals in 2011.
The pools:
Pool A: Hockey Punjab, Hockey Delhi, Association of Indian Universities, Hockey Arunachal.
Pool B: Air India Sports Promotion Board, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Hockey Puducherry, Tripura Hockey, Chhattisgarh Hockey.
Pool C: Hockey Karnataka, Services Sports Control Board, Hockey Bihar, Goans Hockey, Sports Authority of India.
Pool D: Hockey Haryana, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Andaman and Nicobar, Mumbai Hockey Association.
Pool E: Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Odisha, Hockey Himachal Pradesh, Bengal Hockey Association, Comptroller and Auditor General.
Pool F: Railway Sports Promotion Board, Hockey Bhopal, Sashastra Seema Bal, Hockey Jammu and Kashmir, Namdhari XI.
Pool G: Manipur Hockey, Hockey Andhra Pradesh, Hockey Uttarakhand, Hockey Kerala.
Pool H: Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh Olympic Association, Hockey Assam, Hockey Rajasthan.
The event, to be telecast live on DD from the quarter final stage, will be played under floodlights.
