BHOPAL: The 12th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2022 will begin in Bhopal from Wednesday.
The 12-day tournament will witness 28 teams vie for top honours. In its previous edition, the tournament was won by Hockey Punjab after they beat Uttar Pradesh in a thrilling shootout while Karnataka finished third having beaten Maharashtra 5-2 in the third/fourth placing match.
This year, title defenders Hockey Punjab are grouped in pool A along with Hockey Rajasthan and Delhi Hockey. In pool B, Uttar Pradesh Hockey will battle it out against Telangana Hockey and Chhattisgarh Hockey to make the Quarterfinals while in pool C Hockey Karnataka will take on Hockey Andhra Pradesh and Hockey Uttarakhand. In pool D, Hockey Maharashtra will take on Hockey Bihar and Kerala Hockey.
In pool E, Hockey Chandigarh is grouped with Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Jammu & Kashmir, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey. In pool F, Hockey Bengal, Le Puducherry Hockey, Hockey Gujarat and Hockey Arunachal will battle it out while in pool G, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, Manipur Hockey, Hockey Madhya Pradesh and Hockey Himachal are grouped together. In pool H, Hockey Haryana will take on Hockey Association of Odisha, Assam Hockey and Goans Hockey.
The tournament will be closely watched by national selectors from Hockey India where top performers will stand a chance to find a place in the national program for the Indian men’s hockey team.
