Odisha to host grand rural hockey tournament

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is going to host the world’s largest rural hockey tournament in November this year. Named as Biju Patnaik Rural Hockey Championship, the tournament would witness participation of a total 1500 teams from states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Organizer of the tournament, Dillip Tirkey Sports Research and Development Foundation, unveiled its logo at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

According to organizer sources, matches to be played at 32 venues in this tournament on knock-out basis from November this year would conclude in March 2017. 64 qualifying teams—two each from the venues—would be selected for the next level of the tournament.

While the total prize amount of the tournament has been kept at Rs 20 Lakh, sand artist of international repute Sudarshan Patnaik has been roped in by the organizers as the brand ambassador of the tournament.