The 65th All-India Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup Hockey Tournament will be held in bhopal from May 23-31, 2011. A total of 12 teams, including Sapura Club, Malaysia and Bangladesh XI, would take part in the tournament. The teams are divided in four pools, which are as following:
Pool A: Air India, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB),
Pool B: Sapura Club (Malaysia), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Namdhari Club,
Pool C: Bangladesh XI, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Madhya Pradesh State Hockey Academy,
Pool D: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Indian Railways and Punjab Police.
A prize of Rs 5 lakh will be given to champions, while the runners-up will receive Rs 3 lakh. 3rd and 4th placed teams will be awarded with Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
More than 5 decade old tournament was not held for 8-years, and it was revived last year by the initiative from MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and it was organised by the Department of Sports and Youth Welfare (DSYW) while the Bhopal Hockey Association (BHA) extended cooperation.
A dispute ensued with announcement of the tournament by DSYW this year as BHA also announced that it will conduct the Tournament and later submitted a petition against the DSYW. It can be noted that both DSYW and BHA came to an understanding and the Court permitted DSYW to organise the tournament and directed it to seek active cooperation from 11 members nominated by the BHA. The DSYW will have to reserve a VIP pavilion for BHA nominated members and arrange 40 seats in the pavilion for BHA members. Justice Gangacharan Dubey prepared the agreement. Court also said, “Game should be played on field, not in the courts.”
