Nithin Thimmaiah and Komala BM will lead the State sides in the 3rd All-India invitational hockey tournament for the Bengaluru Cup which gets underway at the hockey stadium on Tuesday.

A tournament that started in 2014 but was not held last year due to unavailability of turf, returns to the fold this time with six of the top men’s and women’s teams from the country vying for top honours.

In the men’s section, the State side will be joined by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), South Central Railway and Army XI while in the women’s battle, the State side will have to fight it out against defending champions Hockey Haryana, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy (MPHA), Hockey Odisha, Eastern Railways and Hockey Maharashtra.

The tournament will be played on a round-robin cum knock-out format with top four teams from the group qualifying for the semifinals on September 7. The final is scheduled for September 8.

In the men’s section, Karnataka begin their campaign against a red-hot PNB side while the women’s side will face Eastern Railway in the opener on Tuesday.

Karanataka squad: Men: Jagdeep Dayal (GK), Mahan Gowda(GK), Appachu SK, Cariappa KT, Veeranna Gowda SP, MB Aiyappa, Rathan Muthanna VT, Abhishek HS, Rajendra, Naeemuddin, Somaiah KP, Raheel, Pradhan Somanna, MB Cariappa, Nithin Thimmaiah (C), Darshan DS, Bharath KR, Pruthvi Raj; Verghese (coach); Sampath (manager).

Women: Shravya GB (GK), Sandhya MG (GK), Chaithra N, Bhagyashree, Cheluvamba P, Pooja MD, Komala BM (C), Kruthika SP, Kaveramma AH, Sowmyashree, Anjali HR, Swapna NR, Leelavathy MJ, Nisha PC, Ramya, Reshma BB, Avinashree SR, Shalini U; Ganapathy KS (coach); Ankita (manager).

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports> DH News Service, Bengaluru / August 29th, 2017