Ludhiana, November 28
Twelve top outfits of the country have been invited to take part in the XIth All India Mohinder Partap Singh Grewal Memorial Women’s Hockey Tournament to be organised by the MPS Grewal Memorial Charitable Trust from December 9 to 13 here at the Prithipal Singh Astroturf Stadium of Punjab Agricultural University.
D.S. Grewal, working president of the trust, said out of 12 teams, eight would be selected which would be vying for top honours in this five-day tournament. The tournament will be played on league-cum-knock out basis.
The invited teams include defending champions Western Railway, Mumbai, last year’s runners up Central Railway, Mumbai, South Eastern Railway, Kolkata, Northern Railway, Delhi, North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, Western Central Railway, Jabalpur, Jharkhand XI Ranchi, Dhanoa XI, Punjab, Delhi XI, Haryana XI and Orissa XI.
The winners will pocket a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and the second prize is cash prize of 35,000. Besides, cash prizes will also be given to the best player, highest scorer, highest scorer from penalty corners (minimum 5 goals) and man of the match in each encounter.
Meanwhile, Saroj Bansal, international umpire, has been appointed the tournament director by the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation. Pritpal Kaur, Sharanjit Kaur, Pushpinder Kaur, Arunjeet Kaur and Gurvinder Singh Grewal have been named the judges while Nira Mala, Sunita Pant, Anjali Sharma, Vimla Kajur will be the umpires.
This year’s tournament has been dedicated to Harnek Singh Gill, a former international hockey star and senior vice-president of the organising trust, who died on October 16 in Canada, Grewal said.
