Hope NTHA becomes a pipeline for providing hockey players of national stature: Chanakya Chaudhary
Jamshedpur April 3: The 1st Naval Tata Hockey Cup tournament under the joint auspices of Tata Steel and Tata Trusts will be conducted by Naval Tata Hockey Academy (NTHA) at Jamshedpur between April 5 and 7, 2019. This was announced at a press conference chaired by Chanakya Chaudhary, vice president Corporate Services, Tata Steel and chairman Hockey Ace Foundation, Goutam Mukherjee, CEO, Naval Tata Hockey Academy and Rituraj Sinha, chief, Corporate Administration, Tata Steel and board member of Hockey Ace Foundation were also present on the occasion along with other officials of Naval Tata Hockey Academy.
The tournament is named as �Naval Tata Hockey Cup� in honor of Naval Tata�s contribution to the game of hockey in India. He was the longest serving president of the Indian Hockey Federation between 1946 and 1961. The Indian hockey team won three Olympic Gold medals in 1948, 1952 and 1956 under his stewardship.
The Naval Tata Hockey Cup tourney is the first of its kind in Jharkhand and will see teams of under-17 Boys from Odisha and Jharkhand compete at the NTHA ground in Jamshedpur. This tournament carries prize money.
Speaking on the occasion Chanakya Chaudhary said, �The objective of this tournament is to expose young players to the best in the region, by honing their skills and providing them a platform. The idea is to give them exposure and help them learn from each other. Like Tata Football Academy, we hope that the NTHA also will become a pipeline for providing hockey players of national stature�.
In his address to the media Goutam Mukherjee said, �Cadets usually join us from the age group of 13 or 14 and stay till the age of 17. Hence this tournament is being organised for the Under 17 age group. The winner of the tournament will receive cash prize of Rs 40,000, first runner-up will get Rs 25,000 and second runner-up will get Rs 15,000″.
He further said that six teams including Gumla, Ranchi SAI, Odisha Sports Hostel, Rourkela SAIL and two teams from Naval Tata Hockey Academy will participate in the league cum knockout tournament.
“We want to take this tournament to Hockey India calendar and make it an annual affair”, added Goutam Mukherjee.
The chief guest of the opening ceremony on April 5 will be Bholanath Singh, president Hockey Jharkhand while the chief guest for the Closing Ceremony on April 7 will be Anand Sen, president TQM & Steel Business, Tata Steel and Harendra Singh, former coach of Indian men�s hockey team would be the guest of honour.
Floris Bovelander, technical director of NTHA will officiate as the technical director of the tournament.
