Team Coorg and Friends of Naqvi Group will organise the 6th edition of the Indian Independence Day Cup Hockey match on August 30 at the Oman Football Association ground, near Near Hotel Mumtaz Mahal, in Al Qurum.

The match, which will see Team Coorg taking on Dubai’s United Thalassery Sports Club, is scheduled to start at 5.00 pm.

Over the years Team Coorg have been organising hockey events in the Sultanate to celebrate various historic Indian National occasions. Hockey is one of most popular game which has a huge fan following back in Coorg, a tiny district in th south Indian state of Karnataka, where the annual family hockey festival witnesses an average of 250 teams participating.

The district boasts now the presence of five of their players in the current Indian national team like Nithin Thimmaiah, Nikkin Thimmaiah, S.K. Uthappa, Ragunath and S.V. Sunil, some of whom either visited the Sultanate or played for the Omani clubs in the past.

Indian Ambassador J.S. Mukul will preside over the match while Dawood bin Ahamed Ali Al Raisi, the former chairman of the Oman Hockey Association, will be the guest of honour. The latter will also be honored for his lifetime achievement on this occasion.

In bringing the game to the masses, business houses have begun to come forward in sponsoring the event and teams. Khimji Ramdas LLC’s Permoglaze Paints are the sponsors of the team colour. Naranjee Hirjee & Co., Muscat Pharmacy (Pocari) and Al Omaniya Finance are the other prominent sponsors of the event.

According to Team Coorg official Kuttappa, the event has been receiving support from the Indian Embassy and the Oman Hockey Association. He made a special mention about the invaluable and continued guidance being provided by veteran hockey personality SAS Naqvi, Team Coorg, UTSC and hockey enthusiast Mohammed Osama Rawat.

Team Coorg: Bopanna, Major Cariappa, Chendu, Devaiah, Dinal Erappa, Ganapathy, Hitin, Jalal, Kuttappa, Kushalappa, Lavin, Muddappa Nanaiah, Rafeeq, Shakeel, Subbaiah and Zaman.

UTSC: Shanavas, Mohammed Anver, Binyanin Khan, Vishakh, Shibu, Nadeem Ahmed, Jamsheed, Qadeer Hussain, Mohammed Raffy and Hashir Ponmanichi.

source: http://www.timesofoman.com / Times of Oman / Home / by Times News Service / August 26th, 2013