A clutch of young hockey talent will descend on the city with the 7th edition of the Sub-Junior Men’s National Championship kicking off on Monday.

The tournament, being organised by Hockey Bengaluru, will include 43 teams in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories and will be held on the newly laid turf at the hockey stadium in Shanthinagar.

This will be the third instance the event will be held in Bengaluru, with 1987 and 2002 being the two previous occasions.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Hockey Bengaluru Secretary K Krishnamurthy said he was confident of a successful conduct of the tournament.

“As an organisation (previously named Karnataka State Hockey Association), we have existed for 77 years now and have enough experience of hosting national events.”

“I am glad that Hockey India has given us the opportunity and I’m sure we can conduct it in a grand manner,” he added.

The ‘B’ Division will begin on April 24 and the final will be on May 5 and the two finalists will receive promotion to the ‘A’ Division.

From May 10 to May 21 the elite group of 23 teams will vie for the ‘A’ Division title.
Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, MLA N A Harris, patron of Hockey Bengaluru (formerly KSHA), said they will continue to object to the manner in which the stadium was renamed.

During Thursday’s turf inauguration ceremony, Department of Youth Services and Sports had named it the Field Marshal KM Cariappa Stadium.

  “We will definitely take up the issue because they (those behind renaming of the stadium) have not followed the protocol. The name isn’t the issue here, but the erstwhile Karnataka State Hockey Association is the body that has been supporting hockey in the State for many years now. So someone cannot just come and change what they want.

“All we ask is for them to respect the work we are doing. Simple question is, who has developed the stadium? People have developed it brick by brick. You can’t just take it away.”