Bangalore:
Vikarmkant will lead the 19-member men`s Karnataka hockey squad for the third Senior National Championship to be held at Pune from May 28 to June 10.
S K Uthappa, adjudged the best player in 2011 Senior Nationals in Bhopal where Karnataka had finished runners-up, will be the vice-captain of the state side.
The team is being coached by 1994 World Cupper K K Poonacha.
Karnataka is grouped in Pool C along with Services, SAI, Bihar and Goa. They will play their first match against Goa on June 3.
As many as 37 participating teams have been divided into eight pools and toppers of each pool will make it to the quarter finals. Pune had previously hosted the inaugural Hockey India Junior Men`s Nationals in 2011.
The championship will be telecast live on DD from the quarter final stage.
Pool A: Hockey Punjab, Hockey Delhi, Association of Indian Universities, Hockey Arunachal.
Pool B: Air India Sports Promotion Board, Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Hockey Puducherry, Tripura Hockey, Chhattisgarh Hockey.
Pool C: Hockey Karnataka, Services Sports Control Board, Hockey Bihar, Goans Hockey, Sports Authority of India.
Pool D: Hockey Haryana, Uttar Pradesh Hockey, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Andaman and Nicobar, Mumbai Hockey Association.
Pool E: Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Odisha, Hockey Himachal Pradesh, Bengal Hockey Association, Comptroller and Auditor General.
Pool F: Railway Sports Promotion Board, Hockey Bhopal,
Sashastra Seema Bal, Hockey Jammu and Kashmir, Namdhari XI.
Pool G: Manipur Hockey, Hockey Andhra Pradesh, Hockey Uttarakhand, Hockey Kerala.
Pool H: Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh Olympic Association, Hockey Assam, Hockey Rajasthan.
Karnataka squad: Jagdeep Dayal, K D Bidappa, S K Appachu, B P Chingappa, S M Rafeeq, Vikramkant (captain), C K Somanna, M B Aiyappa, S K Uthappa (vice captain), M G Poonacha, M K Muddappa, Mohan Muthanna, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Bipin Bopaiah, K B Thammaiah, P L Thimmanna, K M Somanna, P V Pramod and C U Bopanna.
Coach: K K Poonacha
Manager: Rickey Ganapathy
Physio and Trainer: Sampath Kumar.
PTI
source: http://www.zeenews.india.com / Z News / Home> Sports> Others / Thursday – May 30th, 2013
