Wednesday 17 / April / 2024
Muscat: An overwhelming response from hockey aficionados and equally existing action produced by the participating teams made the 12th Dhyan Chand Day six-a-side hockey tournament a grand success.
The annual event, organised by Team Coorg and Friends of Naqvi Group under the patronage of Indian Embassy, took place at the OFA Ground in Al Qurm on Friday.
Four teams, each named after former India captains and Olympians - Dhyan Chand XI, Kishen Lal XI, K.D. Singh Babu XI and Balbir Singh Senior XI - entertained the hockey lovers while competing for the top honours in the tournament.
In the end it was Dhyan Chand XI who emerged the winners with Kishen Lal XI taking the second place. K.D. Singh Babu XI settled for the third place.
With Indian Ambassador Indramani Pandey missing the event due to other commitments, Rakesh Adlakha, the First Secretary and Head of Chancery, was the special guest and handed over the prizes.
In his speech Rakesh Adlakha paid rich tributes to Dhyan Chand who is known as the hockey wizard and spoke about the legends contribution to the world hockey.
The Indian Embassy official also spoke highly about Team Coorg, Belu Kuttappa, SAS Naqvi and other members of the organising committee and lauded their efforts in organising such hockey events.
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During the occasion, the organisers also honoured the young talents and women from the expatriate community for their achievements and contribution to sports.
Among those honoured during the event were Sanskar Dubey, an Indian School Muscat student who has been excelling both in tennis and table tennis on the local circuit, and Madhulika Gupta, a well-known social worker as well as a women’s cricket and sports volunteer.
Meanwhile, the organisers thanked Dr. Hammad Hamed Al Ghafri, the former President of Oman Olympic Committee and presently the Advisor of Ministry of Civil Services, and the Future Group of Companies for their support to the event.
