Hockey nationals: Holders Haryana drawn with Bhopal

New Delhi, Sep 20 - Defending champions Haryana have been drawn in Group A along with Maharashtra, Puducherry, Bengal and Bhopal for the second Hockey India Senior Men’s National Championship to be held in Bangalore from Sep 23 to Oct 2.

Some 34 state units of Hockey India will be taking part in the tournament that will be played on a league cum knock-out basis at Hockey Stadium, Langford Road and MEG AstroTurf at MEG Centre, Banaswadi Road.

The tournament will kick-off with a Group C match between Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh.

National selectors and the government observer will pick players from the event to select the probables for the next camps for the Champions Trophy in Melbourne, Australia from Dec 1-9 and the sian Champions Trophy in Doha, Qatar from Dec 14-21.

Hockey India will help Hockey Karnataka with Rs.16 lakh to host the tournament.

Top Indian players Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh will turn out for Haryana while ace forward Tushar Khandekar will lead Uttar Pradesh.

UP have been clubbed with Assam, Tripura and Indian Railways in Group F. They will start their campaign against Assam, Sep 26, followed by Tripura, Sep 27, and Indian Railways, Sep 28.

The quarterfinals will be played Sep 30 and the semi-finals are slated for Oct 1.