25th All India Hawks Dashmesh Hockey Tournament to open today with its Silver Jubilee festival
The 25th All India Hawks Dashmesh Hockey Tournament will open today at the Hawks Stadium Bela Road, Rupnagar, commencing from 13-17 April. It will be inaugurated with the All India Hawks Dashmesh Hockey festival, as stated by the SSP Rupnagar
and President of the organising committee, Sh. Jatinder Singh Aulakh.
This Silver Jubilee event has been organised by the Hawks Club Rupnagar and is considered to be one of India’s prestigious hockey tournaments.
Aulakh reported that the tournament had been declared as grade-one by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), featuring many national and international hockey stars of the country as participants this year.
He further disclosed that the Minister of Technical Education, Social Security and Women and Child Development Punjab, Honourable Ch. Swarna Ram shall appear as the Chief Guest of the event, inaugurating the festival.
Before the commencement of the matches, a Holy Torch from Gurdwara Shri Bhatha Sahib will be presented by the young little players of Hawks Club to the Chief Guest, Senior Officials and the spectators. This torch will remain lit until the closing of the
tournament on April 17, sending it back to the Gurdwara Sahib.
General Secretary of the Rupnagar Hawks Club, S.S. Saini, said that twelve teams will be a part of this tournament and the festival will be celebrated for five days throughout the event. This festival will feature media coverage from a Punjabi Channel PTC News,
Fastways and Doordarshan Jalandhar.
The 12 teams participating in the tournament are from all around India include Indian Air Force, BSF – Jalandhar, EME Jalandhar, Rock Rovers Chandigarh, Central Industrial Security Force – Delhi, Punjab Police, Rail Coach Factory -Kapurthala, PSEB, Farid
Club Faridkot, Sports Hostel –Lucknow and CRPF.
The Silver Jubilee celebrations will include some top singers of Punjabi Folk along with the Punjab Police Band to entertain the crowd within the stadium.
On the final day, the Irrigation Minister of Punjab Honourable, Sh. Janmeja Singh Sekhon, will be the chief guest of the evening. He will present the hockey teams with the winning and runners-up prizes.
Jasbir Singh, the Club Secretary, informed that the winners will be awarded a cash prize worth INR 51,000 followed by a runner's-up prize worth INR 31,000.
During a press conference, Saini shared that the tournament had begun in 1972 with an aim of promoting hockey in the area and the last edition of this tournament was held in 1996. Since then, it could not be held due to multiple reasons. However, it has
now been restored and will commence in the club’s own stadium.
He further added that the tournament will feature knock-out rounds and that the game will be played as per the new rules.
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