Indian team for women’s Champions Challenge I has been announced. Indian team will be without captain Surinder Kaur who has opted out due t personal reasons. Saba Anjum will lead the team in her absence. Another notable absentee from the team is Mamta Kharab. She was selected in the probable list but was not taken in the 19 member squad. Indian team for the Champions Challenge I can be read here.
2. Punjab beat Mumbai to win nationals (stick2hockey)
Punjab beat Mumbai 2-1 to win under-17 Junior Nationals. Goals from Davinder Kumar and Ramandeep Singh helped Punjab to secure the victory against Mumbai. Punjab captain Gurjant Singh was adjudged the player of the tournament while S. Basvaraj from Karnataka was the highest goal scorer of the tournament.
3. FIH was paid more money- KPS Gill (Times of India)
IHF adviser KPS Gill said that Hockey India had paid Rs. 5 crore more to host 2010 World Cup. KPS Gill said that durng his tenure of IHF chief the capitation fees of the World Cup was Rs. 2.5 crores in the MoU but Narinder Batra had paid Rs. 7.5 crores to the FIH. KPS Gill aslo said that he will be filing a FIR to find out how the money has reached to the FIH.
4. Decks cleared for World Hockey Series (Times of India)
New Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea from Premier Hockey Development Pvt Ltd (backed by ESPN-Star) and refused to interfere in the deal between IHF and Nimbus Sports for the World Hockey Series. PHD had filed a plea stating that IHF has signed the deal with Nimbus even though the agreement between ESPN Star and IHF was not mutually terminated. But, Delhi HC has refused to look into the plea and dismissed it.
5. No infrastructure in India- Manohar Topno (Times of India)
The coach of Jharkhand state hockey team and former Olympian Manohar Topno says that India does not have infrastructure to improve performance of the team and the rift between IHF and HI is the major reason for the declining hockey standards of the country. He also said that Jharkhand team could not practice on the astro-truf laid out in Ranchi as Hockey Jharkhand does not have enough money to pay for it. The stadium in Ranchi is used for other purposes (incl. marriages) excluding hockey.
6. National Championship from June 10 (Times of India)
Hockey India is going to conduct National Hockey Championship from June 10 in Bhopal. This is the first time since the formation of Hockey India in the year 2007. Out of 35 affiliated units, 32 have confirmed their participation and the tournament will be played in league cum knock-out basis.
