Sports

SNBP 28th Nehru All India University Hockey In Pune, 16 Teams To Battle For Champion Honours.

*Sixteen universities, comprising of the Top-4 finishers from the Intra Zonals are set to challenge each other.

Pune: For the first time Pune will host the famed SNBP 28th Nehru All-India Universities Hockey Tournament (Inter Zonal Finals) at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium, Nehrunagar, Pimpri from Wednesday 9th March 2022.The 11-day tournament is being conducted in collaboration with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), under the aegis of Hockey India and title-sponsored by the SNBP Group of Institutes.The final has been scheduled for Saturday 19th March 2022.The high point of the tournament will be the fact that the top eight finishers (quarterfinalists) will qualify for the Khelo India University Games 2022, to be held in Bengaluru.

Sixteen universities, comprising of the Top-4 finishers from the Intra Zonals (North, South, East and West) are set to challenge each other in a league-cum knock-out format in the Finals at Pune.The Intra Zonal qualifiers include Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Punjabi University, Patiala; Kurukshetra University and Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (North Zone); Bangalore City University, Bangalore University, SRM University Chennai and Manonmaniium Sundarnar University, Tirunelveli (South Zone); MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, Sambhalpur University, VBSP University, Jaunpur and Banaras Hindu University (East Zone).West Zone will be represented by Savitribai Phule Pune University, LNCT University, Gwalior, University of Mumbai and Parul University, Vadodara.

The tournament, for the fifth year, is being sponsored by the SNBP Group of Institutes who have aligned their support purely with the vision of promoting grassroots hockey. In fact, President, SNBP Group of Institutes, Dr. Vrishali Bhosale, also holds the position of Vice President at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament (JNHT) Society, New Delhi.To make the first time event being held in Pune commemorative, Dr. Bhosale announced a cash prize of Rs.25,000 for the Player of the Tournament.

Kukoo Walia, Secretary General, Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament Society, said, “It’s an honour to have the tournament played in a city that has produced so many great hockey players. JNHT Society has been engaged in the promotion and development of the National game since 1964, which includes conducting competitions at the National and International level. A big thank you to Dr. Vrishali Bhosale, our Society’s first lady to be elected, for understanding the initiative needed to develop and promote the National game.”

Dr. Vrishali Bhosale, President, SNBP Group of Institutes, said, “SNBP from the beginning has pledged itself at promoting grassroots hockey. As an extension to help the sport at the next level we decided to extend support at the university level, which I firmly believe is the steppingstone for stars of the future to emerge. It would be great to have a couple of players from the participating teams go on to represent India, which itself will be an accomplishment.”

Rutuja Bhosale, Director, SNBP Group of Institutes, said, “Over the years SNBP has created its own sports properties which include SNBP All-India Boys Hockey tournament – the only Nationally listed all-India tournament in Maharashtra; the State level Girls tournament; ‘Shubadra’ – a district-level inter-school competition comprising of ten disciplines apart from regular conduct of the District Sports Office Inter-School events. Our focus now is the set-up of our own hockey Academy for which we are working on the affiliation.

Firoz Shaikh, Director of Physical Education, SNBP Group of Institutes, said, “The teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each. The opening day will feature 2 matches, while the following day owing to an industrial holiday will also have 2 matches. Thereafter, from Friday a total of 4 matches will be held daily during the group stage. The quarterfinals will be played on 16 and 17 March followed by the semi-finals on 18th March.”

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