Babu hockey tourney draws all-round praise
LUCKNOW : The Under-14 boys’ tournament in memory of hockey great Kunwar Digvijay Singh ‘Babu’ being conducted by a group of former Olympians and World Cuppers in Lucknow for the last 32 years is probably the best event on the domestic circuit in the age group category.
Teams from all parts of the country, especially hockey academies even from remote districts of south India, have regularly been part of it. The latest edition, which ended here on Monday with the hosts Uttar Pradesh losing the crown to Haryana’s Flicker Brothers 3-5 in a penalty shoot-out, lived up to expectations due to the interest taken by the family members of ‘Babu’ Saheb as his 100th birth year is being celebrated currently.
For record, Uttar Pradesh lost the crown after a long gap of 16 years as they have been undisputed champions since 2005.
But what happens next year? “Once again, we will be out to raise funds for it. Sometimes it is Rs 5000 to Rs 50,000 by different people. We even put in money from our own pocket,” the tournament’s orgaising secretary Imran-Ul-Haq said on Monday.
CM Yogi Adityanath presented the winner’s cheque of Rs 11 lakh to the Haryana side, before handing over Rs 5 lakh to the hosts UP. Hockey Haryana, who defeated Tata Naval Academy (Odisha) 4-0 got the purse of Rs 2 lakh.
The Odisha side received Rs 1 lakh. Sujeet Pal, Guru Sharan Singh, Mayank, S Tirki, Ata, Nitesh, Asmit, Zainul etc. were given special awards on the occasion.
“We wish that UP government should earmark Rs 10 lakh as annual grant to the Babu Society so that the event could continue without any hindrance,” said Haq, a former India hockey player.
Former India hockey captain Rajneesh Mishra, too, praised the event.
“This is the best-ever event in the domestic circuit for the youngest lot of sport, and I feel that it should be promoted and supported by everyone,” he said, adding, “The tournament has been producing future stars for both junior and senior India teams.”
The closing ceremony of the tournament at the Padma Shri Mohd Shahid Synthetic Hockey Stadium on Monday also witnessed a galaxy of former hockey stars like member of the 1975 World Cup winning India team Ashok Dhyanchand, Aslam Sher Khan, Syed Ali, Romeo James, Pramod Batla, RP Singh, MP Singh, Sujit Kumar, MP Singh, Mukul Shah, Sanjay Bisht, Vijay Kumar Singh, Rakesh Tandon etc.