Two Odias appointed as umpires for Guru Tegh Bahadur Hockey tourney

Bhubaneswar: Nishan Jyoti Mohanty of East Coast Railway and Biswaranjan Sarangi of Accountant General office, Bhubaneswar have been appointed as umpires for the 12th All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament 2016, one of the Grade A tournaments of India, which will begin at Mumbai from June 1.

Both Mohanty and Sarangi are first Odias to be appointed as umpires in such prestigious Hockey tournament.

Prominent teams like the Air India, PNB, CAG, Namdhari XI, Customs, Western Railway, Central Railway, Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala will participate in the tournament which will conclude on June 10.

Notably, both Mohanty and Sarangi were also selected as umpires for the 1st Obaidullah Khan Heritage Cup 2016, the biggest Hockey Tournament of India scheduled from May 19-28 May at Bhopal in which international teams were scheduled to participate. Unfortunately, the tournament was postponed to September due to preparation of national and international teams for Rio Olympics.

Sarangi was selected as the first Umpire Manger of 6th Hockey India Junior National Hockey men championship Division (B&A) at Raipur Chhattisgarh 2016.

General Secretary, Hockey Odisha, Pratap Satpathy has congratulated the two Odia umpires for their nomination for national level tournaments.