National hockey championship begins today

KARACHI: The 65th Air Marshal (R) Muhammad Nur Khan National Hockey Championship 2019 will commence at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium here on Tuesday (today).

As many as 20 teams, divided into four groups, will compete for the title.

The opening ceremony will be held from 4:30 PM. Air Vice Marshal Noor Abbas, Adviser to Chairman PIA, will inaugurate the championship.

Olympian Abdul Hanif Khan is the tournament director. Five matches will be played daily. The quarter-finals will be played on August 1, the semi-finals on 3 and the final on 4 (Sunday).

Pool A: NBP (defending champions), Army, Police, KP, Gilgit

Pool B: WAPDA, Army (W), Punjab, MPCL, FATA,

Pool C: SSGC, PIA, PAF, Sindh, Islamabad

Pool D: Navy, Railways, WAPDA (W), PQA, Baluchistan

Meanwhile, the PHF congress meeting will be held at Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium on Tuesday (today) at 1 PM.

It is expected that more than 100 congress members will participate in the meeting.

PHF secretary Olympian Asif Bajwa needs to get vote of confidence in the meeting, which will also decide the names of national hockey team’s selection committee members, sources said.