The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : SZ senior men's championship from today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 27, 2006
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SZ senior men's championship from today

Principal Correspondent

THALASSERY: Cricket is by far the most popular sport in this historic town, but the organisers of the 19th South Zone senior men's hockey championship are expecting good crowds over the next four days at the Municipal Stadium.

The tournament opens with a match between Hyderabad and Puducherry at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Host Kerala will take on Andhra in the second match. Six teams divided into two groups are in the fray in this league-cum-knock-out event. The top two from each group will qualify for the semifinals to be held on December 29.

Pool `A' has holder Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad and Puducherry, while Pool `B' comprises last year's runner-up Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra.

"This championship was scheduled at the beginning of the year, but had to be postponed on more than one occasion on account of various reasons, including the Assembly elections and monsoon," the Kerala Hockey Association Secretary, N. Ramesh Kolappa, said.

"I am sure this tournament will produce some exciting hockey as there would be quite a few senior and junior internationals representing teams like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka."

Sandeep Michael to play

Karnataka's Sandeep Michael, who was adjudged the most promising player of the Asia Cup in Malaysia in 2003, is one of them. "Besides Sandeep, our team has a couple of junior internationals," G. Parimala Kumar, Karnataka coach, said. "We are confident of our chances here as we had an excellent practice session back home in conditions similar to here.

"Tamil Nadu, which normally fields many senior and junior internationals, and Hyderabad would be our toughest opponents. And we are not going to take Kerala lightly as the team plays with a lot of spirit."

This is the second time that Thalassery is hosting the event after 1995.

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