Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 11 : The final leg of the third edition of the Odisha Naval Hockey Grassroot Championship 2023, a tournament for the grassroot teams, commenced at the Kalinga Stadium on Monday.
Director Hockey Odisha, David John attended the opening ceremony as the Chief Guest. Also, present on this occasion were Project Director Odisha Naval Hockey High-Performance Centre (HPC) Rajiv Seth and officials of the Sports and Youth Services Department and the Hockey HPC, as per a press release from Sports Odisha.
A total of 16 teams with 256 players (128 boys and 128 girls) will be taking part in the championship and competing for the title. The final will be held on July 15.
The first phase of the tournament was held between 4-8 June, 2023, where a total of 45 teams participated out of which 16 teams qualified for the final leg of the tournament.
Notably, there are teams from 20 Hockey Training Centres (HTCs) out of which 5 are Grassroot Training Centres. In the girls' category, the teams include Kutra HTC, Gurundia HTC, Bamra HTC, HPC GR Dhenkanal, Rajgangpur HTC, Kuarmunda HTC, Subdega HTC and Balisankara HTC (Saunamara). Meanwhile, in the boys' category, the teams are from NuaGaon HTC, Kutra HTC, Balisankara HTC (Saunamara), Chatrapur HTC, Rajgangpur HTC, Gurundia HTC, Subdega HTC and Balisankara HTC (Tileikani).
Encouraging the players, David John, Director of Hockey Odisha, said, "I am really excited to see the young players showcasing their skills and techniques. Over the past few years, we have seen Odisha hosting several national and international level tournaments which will be a confidence booster for these players. I would like to wish all the players best of luck and to give their everything when they are on the field. Hockey is about playing matches and learning from the matches. We now have more than 20 synthetic pitches and with proper coaching and opportunities like this Championship the future of hockey in Odisha looks bright."
Speaking about the tournament, Rajiv Seth, Project Director of Odisha Naval Hockey High-Performance Centre, said, "It is a historic moment in this edition that we have our new hockey training centres participating for the first time in the event and have done superbly to reach the Championship phase. This is a game-changer phase for the state of Odisha and hockey is going to flourish to the next level for the state. I wish all the players participating the very best and I sincerely hope that some of the players will leave a mark in National and International space from here going forward."
The matches will be played in two phases, morning and evening.
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