National hockey championship begins today

KARACHI: The 63rd National Hockey Championship, featuring 13 departmental teams, will commence from Friday (today) at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Director Development and Domestic Naveed Alam announced the schedule of the championship while addressing a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

It was unveiled that two league rounds will be played in the championship followed by the semi-finals and final.

13 departmental teams will first clash in four pools of the Premier League. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the Super League. The eight teams making to the Super League will be further divided into two pools.

The top two teams from each of the two pools of the Super League will then play the semi-finals followed by the final on January 4. 

Three matches are scheduled to be played daily in the League stages. The first match will start at 10am today. January 1 and 2 will be rest days.

Pool “A” has PIA, Navy and Railways, while Pool “B” comprises WAPDA, SSGC and HEC. Pool “C” consists of NBP, Port Qasim, Police and PTV, and Pool “ D” has Army, SNGP and PAF.

All matches will be played at the National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.  

There will be a separate championship for the regional teams after a few weeks, Naveed disclosed.

Naveed said when the regional sides compete with the departmental teams one-sided results are often witnessed with the former suffering huge defeats.

The regional championship would have divisional sides rather than provincial. “Hopefully, around 30 divisional sides will be in the fray. Hence, a lot of new talent would be on display in the regional championship,” he added.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the PHF will announce the prize money and other awards for successful players of the national championship in a few days as talks are under way for the sponsorship.