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The 13th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship officially kicks off today in Chennai (17 November).
The event will see a large pool of participants, with 29 teams divided into 8 pools. The tournament will also have 31 members of the National Core Group in action, including the Indian team captain Harmanpreet Singh, defender Amit Rohidas, and goalkeeper Krishnan B Pathak.
The national championships will take place at Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai —the same stadium that hosted the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy.
Speaking on the immense amount of participation at a press conference in Chennai, Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu president and Hockey India treasurer Sekar J Manoharan told media outlets including Sportskeeda:
"We are witnessing so many Indian players competing in the Nationals after a long time. This will be one of the selection events for [Paris Olympics]. We hope to see huge crowds here like what we witnessed at Ranchi during the ACT women’s tournament.”
“We hope to be on the podium as we have trained hard”- secretary of the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu
Meanwhile, the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu is looking to step onto the podium at the 13th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship.
The Secretary of the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, P. Senthil Kumar, vouched for the team's hard work leading up to the tournament and said that they hope to make it to the podium. While speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, he said:
“We hope to be on the podium as we have trained hard."
The Tamil Nadu team has been placed in Pool B alongside Hockey Himachal and Assam Hockey. The team on top of the table will advance to the quarterfinals stage for their knockout rounds.
The Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, who were last year's runners-up, will have Selvam Karthi on their team. Karthi, a forward on the national team, was a part of the Indian men's team that stormed to gold at the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy.
The winners from each of the eight groups will advance to the quarterfinals, where the winners will earn a place in the semi-final. The final will take place on 28 November.
