National hockey tourney preparations in full swing

Lovleen Bains

Doraha, November 23

Teams from across India, including Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, arrived in Doraha on Friday to participate in the National Hockey Tourney, which is being organised by Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School from November 25 to 30.

The 23rd hockey tournament for schools affiliated to the CBSE is being organised consecutively for the second time at the rural school. Preparations for the event are in a full swing. Participating teams are exuberant enough to put their best foot forward. Invitation has been extended to all hockey lovers from various schools and colleges. Three lush green grounds of the school have been prepared for the audience to the event.

“Hockey is our national game. It should be promoted and talented children should be properly trained to play hockey. This is the reason that we are organising this tournament in our school for the second time,” said the school principal DP Thakur.

Executive Administrator of the school Roopinder Brar said: “The school had organised the national hockey tourney last year also. Conducting national-level competitions is both exciting and challenging for rural institution like ours. In all, 32 teams from 25 schools from across India will be matching their skills against each other during the CBSE National Hockey Competition,” she added.

School Vice-President Harpratap Singh Brar said the championship will be played on league-cum-knockout basis, where all teams will be divided into pools. “From each pool, the team emerging on the top two positions will qualify for semifinals,” said Brar.

School president Roop Brar, Senior Vice-President Jogeshwar Singh Mangat, Finance Secretary Pavittar Pal Singh Pangli, Manager Adarshpal Bector, Treasurer Harjiwanpal Singh Gill, Rajinder Singh Khalsa, Ravinder Singh Malhans and Navneet Singh will grace the opening ceremony on November 25.