A prestigious hockey tournament churning out scores of international players including eight Olympians, the Obaidullah Khan Heritage Cup 2022 began in Bhopal on Monday.
As the historic Aishbagh Stadium is undergoing renovation, the venue has been shifted to Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in the city, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the tournament.
Chouhan said, “Bhopal was once the nursery of Indian hockey and we are determined to bring this coveted title back to our city.” Chouhan said that there is no problem as to why India cannot become the number one team in the world.
Started as the Obaidullah Gold Cup in the year 1931, this prestigious tournament churned out international players for decades but could not be a consistent fixture and the last time it was played was in the year 2016 and held after a gap of six years being done.
After seeing 64 editions, the tournament was scheduled to be held in December 2021 but was postponed by the Department of Sports and Youth Welfare. Last time, it was the BPCL team that won the title by getting a reward of Rs 25 lakh and CM Shivraj promised to double the prize money to Rs 51 lakh.
Earlier the tournament, which was closed a decade ago, was revived in the year 2010 but it could run only till 2014.
Significantly, the tournament started with the formation of the Bhopal Hockey Association in the year 1931.
Including Ahmed Sher Khan, Ehsan Mohammad, Latif-ur-Rahman, Akhtar Hussain, Inam-ur-Rahman, Aslam Sher Khan, Syed Jalaluddin Rizvi and Sameer Dad, the tournament has produced eight Olympians and 37 international players in the past.
A dozen teams will compete for the cup in this tournament that ends on March 27.
To add, the tournament has been revived when the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.
Sports Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said that we are preparing five astro turfs in Bhopal and making every effort to bring back the golden past of hockey in Bhopal.
Bhopal has no team in the tournament for the second time in 93 years
For the second time in the tournament’s 93-year history, no team will represent Bhopal in the week-long tournament. This is probably because, last year the three associations representing hockey in Madhya Pradesh, Hockey Bhopal, Hockey Madhya Bharat (Jabalpur) and Hockey Madhya Bharat (Gwalior) lost their membership from Hockey India and a combined entity-Hockey Madhya Pradesh came into existence. Came. The year. The team of MP Hockey Academy is participating in the program. In 2016, the Bhopal team could not participate in the event due to a legal dispute between the hockey federations.
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