First Odisha Grassroot Hockey League Concludes On A Resounding Note

First Odisha Grassroot Hockey League Concludes On A Resounding Note

The first Odisha Naval Tata Hockey Grassroot League concluded on Saturday evening at the Kalinga Stadium Sports Complex. In the finals Majhapara Team and SubdegaTeam won in the girls and boys categories respectively. While Majhapara beat Alanda by 2–0 in the girls final, Subdega beat Majhapara by 2–0 in the boys event.

In the girls category, Puja Majhi of Majhapar was adjudged the player of the finals for her spectacular performance and Ankita Kerketta was adjudged the best Girls goalkeeper of the tournament. Similarly in the boys category, Ankit Minz of Subdega was adjudged the player of the finals for his impressive performance and Dilshan Dung Dung was adjudged the best boys goalkeeper of the tournament.

Earlier in the day, the 3rd and 4th placed teams in both categories played for the bronze medals. In the girls category, Kadobahal beat Nuagaon by 4-3 while in the boys category Purnapani beat Kadobahal by 4-2 to bag the bronze medals.

In the post-match award ceremony, Padma Shri Dilip Tirkey, ex-captain of Indian Hockey Team, the Chief Guest on the occasion, handed over the awards to the respective winning teams and players. Present on the occasion were Vineel Krishna, Special Secretary to Chief Minister’s Office and Sports and youth Services Department; Debasis Jena, Chief Resident Executive, Tata Steel, Bhubaneswar; Sudhir Diggikar, Regional CEO, Apollo Hospitals and Rajiv Seth, Project Director, Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre.

Dilip Tirkey shared his experience and said, “I enjoyed the high voltage game played by young talents with practically no exposure to astro turf hockey and want to thank the Government of Odisha and Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre (HPC) for encouraging these young generation of hockey players to be the future of tomorrow.”

Vineel Krishna expressed confidence on scouting for new talent and said, “Thanks to Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC for this amazing initiative of bringing boys and girls from the grassroots centres run by the HPC and giving them an exposure to play at an international stadium. Keep working hard and Odisha is there to support you in your journey of hockey. I am proud how the boys and girls from the grassroots have played here. I am sure there will be more such amazing tournaments in the near future by virtue of which we can scout more and more players to excel at the highest level”

Debasis Jena shared his happiness and said, “The way young talents performed has made me feel that Indian hockey future is in safe hands with Odisha taking such measures to promote hockey in the state. I see many DIlip Tirkeys in these young players who would be representing the country in future. We feel privileged to be associated with such a cause with the Government of Odisha”.

The tournament was conducted to encourage young kids who are receiving daily hockey training at its Grassroots Centres spread across Odisha. In the tournament cadets of 10 out of the operational 12 Grassroots Centres had participated.The first phase of the tournament was conducted from 15^th February till 21^st February 2021 and the final phase was conducted from 2^nd March to 6^th March 2021 at the iconic International Kalinga Hockey Stadium at Bhubaneswar in which 8 shortlisted teams from phase 1 – 4 boys and 4 girls teams had participated. The boys teams were Subdega, Purnapani, Kadobahal and Majhapara, while the girls teams were Nuagaon, Alanda, Majhapara and Kadobahal.