The latest edition of the Kodava Hockey Festival, scheduled to begin at Virajpet on April 20, is vying to enter the Guiness Book of World Records, according to its organisers.

The competition, a hugely popular event among Kodava families since 1997, is aiming to field 325 families in the tournament this year – thus breaking the record for the largest field hockey tournament in the world, irrespective of age and gender. Each team is eligible to enter 16 family members into the event and it is scheduled to end on May 19. The event this year wil be organised by the Thathanda family.

At a press conference here to announce the 2014 edition of the festival of hockey, the head of the Thathanda Family, Nanaiah, spoke with gusto about the tradition and the deep seated roots that hockey has with the country. He pointed out that the current Indian men’s national team has a good number of players from Kodagu.

The winners of the tournament will take home Rs 1 lakh, while the runners-up will receive Rs 50,000.

There was also an official pre-launch exhibition match between two teams representing various Kodava families at the KSHA Stadium on Saturday night.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / DHNS / Bangalore – March 16th, 2014