Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has won the top honour at late Seth Balbhaduaji Kayal National Hockey Tournament by defeating the Army Artillery Center, Nasik team. This is the second National Level tournament won by SAIL Hockey Academy (SHA) team within a week, having won the 115th All India Aga Khan Gold Hockey Tournament on 9th December 2018.
The players of the SAIL Hockey academy team defeated the Army Artillery Center Nasik Hockey Team by 2-1 in the final match. Adding joy to the celebration, Kingson Singh & Samir Ekka of SHA team were adjudged the Man of the Match and Best Player of the Tournament respectively.
Before this, SAIL Hockey Team defeated Maharashtra Police and Aurangabad teams in the inaugural matches to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter final clash, the team beat the team from Amravati 4-3 to make it to the semifinal. The SHA team entered the finals after defeating AOC, Secunderabad convincingly 3-1. A total of 37 hockey teams from across the country participated in this National Tournament played from 10th to 16th December 2018 in Hingoli, Maharashtra.
SAIL is firmly on the path of its commitment to nurture National and International level players for the country. Other than the hockey training in SAIL Hockey Academy of RSP, SAIL is continuously providing quality training to young players through its academies of football, athletics, archery and other sports facilities located in different plants and units across India.
The year 2018 has been a remarkable year for SAIL Hockey Academy, with the SHA team notching up a string of successes in many prestigious tournaments of the country. Several cadets of the academy made it into the Indian National Hockey Team. Birendra Lakra, an alumnus of SHA represented India in the recently concluded Hockey World Cup played at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Besides, Silanand Lakra and Pankaj Rajak, cadets of the academy donned the national colours in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament and Sultan Johar Cup Hockey Tournament held at Malaysia. This year, SHA also won the Shri Nawagrah Trophy All India invitation Hockey Tournament and 8th Vinod Khandekar under 21 All India Gold Cup Hockey Tournament.
