31st Indian Oil SERVO Surjit Hockey from October 29

Jalandhar,  Sept; 11  : Main Attraction : Two Pakistani Teams will seen in action

India’s prestigious Indian Oil SERVO  Surjit Hockey Tournament will be played here at the Olympian Surjit Singh polytan turf Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park from October 29.

According to press release, Mr. Kamal Kishore Yadav, IAS, President of the Surjit Hockey Society who is also the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar and Olympian & Padamshree Pargat Singh, Working President of Society that the tournament is organized every year by Society to keep the name of Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa, ex-Olympian alive, who lost his life in a fatal car accident near Jalandhar on January 7th, 1984, while fighting hard for up-liftment of the National Game of Hockey in our Country.

According to Mr. Kamal Kishore Yadav that the 31st edition of the tournament for men would be played in two phases, in which 21 top ranking teams of the country including one team from Pakistan will exhibit their skills. The main attraction of the tournament will be the Two Pakistani teams Punjab-XI (Pakistan) in Men section and Rest of Pakistan team in Women section will be seen in action during the tournament. The first phase will be pre- qualifying round, where 10 teams will participate and the winner team of this round will qualify for the league stage matches of the tournament, starting from October 29.

In the league stage, total 11 teams including one foreign team have been seeded directly. In pre qualify round matches, Punjab Police, RCF Kapurthala, Indian Air Force Delhi, CRPF Delhi, Corps of Signals, PSPCL Patiala, Indian Navy Mumbai, BSF Jalandhar, Punjab-XI (India) and EME Jalandhar will participate. This pre qualify round will be played from October 25 to 28. The last Years’ Champion Punjab & Sind Bank Delhi, Runners up IndianOil Mumbai, Bharat Petroleum Mumbai, ONGC, Delhi, Indian Railways, Delhi, Army-XI, Punjab-XI (Pakistan), Punjab National Bank, Delhi, Indian Overseas Bank Bangalore, Air India, Mumbai and Namdhari-XI have seeded directly into league stage. Mostly, all the matches of the tournament will be played under flood lights and no gate entry money will be charged from the spectators who will come to witness the game of hockey, Mr. yadav Added.

According to the former Skipper of Indian Hockey Team & Olympian Mr. Pargat Singh that in women section of the tournament, four teams namely Punjab-XI (India), Haryana-XI, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala and Rest of Pakistan, Lahore will participate. These matches will be played on round robin league basis. Both Men & Women teams have been selected by a Team Selection Committee, headed by Olympian & Padamshree Pargat Singh, Iqbal Singh Sandhu, Amrik Singh Powar and Lakhwinder Pal Singh Khaira, Mr. Yadav Added.

Multinational gym company Gold’s Gym, Jalandhar, CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar, Uppal Hospitality Group (UHG) of Hong Kong, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India will be the co-sponsors of the tournament. The Cash Award of Rs. 5.0 lacs to the Winner team is sponsored by USA based NRI Amolak Singh Ghakhal, Chairman, Gold’s Gym, Jalandhar, the Runners’ up cash award of Rs. 2.5 lacs has been sponsored by Mr. Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman of the CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar while the Sports Kits/Scholarships worth Rs. 2.0 lacs to budding players are sponsored by the Mr. Kuldip Singh Uppal of UHG, Hong Kong. As in the past, the best player of the tournament will get Mohinder Singh Tut Memorial Award along with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000. This prize is Sponsored by Ranbir Singh Rana Tut. A committee for the smooth conduct of the tournament has also been formed, Mr. Pargat Singh added.

Mr. Iqbal Singh Sandhu, ADC, Phagwara, who is the Hony. organizing secretary of tournament  that society has said that it has also been decided to honour NRI Sports Promoter, Punjabi Folk Singer and Promoter of Hockey for their achievements on the final day of the tournament. For the selection of these personalities, a committee comprising of Mrs. Sarojini Gautam Sharda, PCS, Bhupinder Singh Makkar, Col. Manmohan Singh, Ram Partap and Mr. Baldev Singh has been constituted. The world famous Marshal Art (Gatka) will also be preformed Live by the Bir Khalsa Dal team on the inaugural day of the tournament on Oct.. 29.

The arrangements have been made for the Live Telecast of Semi Finals and Final match of the tournament on PTC NEWS. A ball to ball running commentary will also be relayed by the ALL INDIA RADIO . The Surjit  Hockey  Society has also decided  increase the number of prizes to be awarded to the spectators, who will come to witness the surjit hockey matches. The main idea is to attract & to create more interest amongst the general public for our national game of Hockey. The spectators will get daily lucky coupons till Nov. 7 at the entrance of the gates, Mr. Sandhu added.

Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, Mr, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab, Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema, Mr. Sohan Singh Thandal, Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Mr. Ajit Singh Kohar (All Cabinet Ministers) Mr. Som Parkash, Mr. Pawan Kumar Tinu, Mr. KD Bhandari, Mr. Avinash Chander (All Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Punjab) would also visit during the tournament days to bless the participating players and officials.