Jamshedpur to host 2nd Hockey India Junior Men Academy National Championship

Championship to kick off on April 20 at Naval Tata Hockey Academy

Jamshedpur, April 18: Tata Steel will host the 2^nd Hockey India Junior Men Academy National Championship 2022 from April 20 – May 1, 2022, in association with Hockey India at the Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Jamshedpur.

The event will witness participation of 31 teams comprising 550+ players from across the country. Over 100+ hockey coaches and training staff including renowned Olympian like Sameer Daad, Olympian and Arjuna Awardee from Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Rajender Singh from Round Glass Punjab Hockey Academy will also be part of the national championship. The championship is being sponsored by Tata Trusts (Venue Partner), Ginger (Hospitality Partner), Shiv Naresh (Merchandise Partner), Alfa (Equipment Partner), Fast & Up (Hydration Partner), Nutrabar (Supplement Partner) and HDFC Bank (Awards Partner). 

According to format of the championship- 8 groups, each group comprising 4 teams will participate. The duration of the match will be of 60 minutes with 4 quarters of 15 minutes each, the matches will be played in league-cum-knockout format. In the group stage, the matches will be played as per the league format. One team winning from each group will qualify for the quarter-final, in which the knockout stage will begin.

The tournament will kick off with Namdhari XI playing against Jai Bharat Hockey Academy.   

Hosts Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Jamshedpur will play its first match against Bhai Behlo Hockey Academy, Bagta on April 20.

Quarterfinal matches will be played on April 28 followed by semi-final matches on April 30. The final will be played on May 1.

“Sports is a way of life” at Tata Steel, and the company has been promoting and encouraging sports for nearly a century now. Sports has been interwoven in Tata Steel’s ethos and has proven to be an extremely effective platform to connect with the community. The testimony to Tata Steel`s efforts in adding value to the overall sports ecosystem of the country is represented through various accolades including 1 Padma Bhushan, 11 Padma Shri, 1 Khel Ratna, 6 Dronacharya and 42 Arjuna Awardees in the field of sports.

The Naval Tata Hockey Academy (NTHA) is a state-of-the-art facility established in Jamshedpur by Tata Trusts and Tata Steel to enable budding field Hockey talent. The academy has a residential training programme developed by Hockey legend Floris Jan Bovelander of Holland and former Indian Captain Sandeep Singh, to develop high potential field Hockey players.  This is the first National-level tournament being organised at the academy since its inauguration in 2017.

Tata Steel spearheads the corporate promotion of sports and has been hosting various tournaments of both National and International standards.