The 10 leading teams from the country, including defending champions Army XI, Air India, oil majors Indian Oil, BPCL and ONGC and Western Railway are some of the strong contenders to stake a claim for the top honours in the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, being organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) and to be played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate from Tuesday, August 18 to Thursday, August 27, 2015. Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PCM) Bank is the sponsors of this prestigious tournament, which is being organised under the auspices of Hockey India.
The fitter and formidable Army XI, who recently finished runners-up to Indian Oil in the 89th MCC Murugappa tournament in Chennai last month are drawn in the tough Group-A along with BPCL, ONGC, local challengers Western Railway and qualifiers Union Bank of India.
Former champions Indian Oil and Air India have been clubbed in Group-B along with last year’s runners-up South Central Railway, Northern Railway and local qualifier Central Railway.
South Central Railway and Northern Railway will set the ball rolling as they meet on the opening day in the first match on the at 2.30 pm. Later in the evening Western Railway will start their campaign against Union Bank at 4.30 pm.
The matches will be played on the 70-minute format, 35 minutes of two sessions, as per the directions of Hockey India.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be played on Wednesday, August 26 after a ‘Rest Day’ on Tuesday, August 25. Both the The grand finale is scheduled to be played on Friday, August 27.
Hockey India has deputed 13 officials, including five from Mumbai to officiate and ensure the smooth conduct of this tournament. Faiyaz Qureshi from Indian Railways has been appointed Tournament Director and Sanjay Bhatia of Delhi as Umpires Manager.
The Groupings – Group-A: Army XI, Western Railway, BPCL, ONGC, Union Bank
Group-B: S.C. Railway, Indian Oil, Air India, Northern Railway, Central Railway.
Tuesday fixtures
2.30 pm: South Central Railway vs Northern Railway (Group-B).
4.30 pm: Western Railway vs Union Bank of India (Group-A).